Jade Force
by Fairy of the Friz
Summary: The six Dragon Kings agreed to meet in the year X791 to take down Zeref for good, and each would bring their human mage child with them. But the Jade Dragon, Quartzerine might have a SMALL problem with that. His daughter is currently sailing the Grand Line with one of the Yonkou, Akagami no Shanks. And she has a bounty. But perhaps that will be what they need to win... ON HIATUS!
1. Prologue

_Jade Force_

Prologue

**#Author note: **

**Yes yes, how naughty of me, starting another fic before I finish the first one. Tough. The plot bunnies demanded to be written!**

There were six Dragon Kings left.

Of fire, Igneel; of iron, Metalicana; of the shadows, Skiadrum; the Master Healer of the Skies, Grandeeney; the Priest of Light, Weislogia; and the Jade Seer, Quartzerine. Between them, it was agreed that the only way to take down Zeref was through END. But Quartzarine, who saw the Truth of the future, knew they had a very long time to wait – four hundred years from now, X791, to be exact. But to take down Zeref's Demons, they needed help from mages, and the most reliable magic for that was Metsuryū Mahou.

At that meeting, so many years ago, it was decided that those six Kings would find a child to raise as their own prior to X777 – a magical year that could be the turning point against the Demons – and agreed to meet up again on that fateful day for one last battle.

But there was no great adventure ever told, where there were not bumps along the way…


	2. Chapter 1, Aubrey Nephrite

_Jade Force_

Chapter one: Aubrey Nephrite

**#Author note: **

**Time wise, this is set in X777 for Fairy Tail, and fourteen years pre-timeskip for One Piece. **

"Dad!" Aubrey called, scaling the treacherous Boscan mountain range. "Hey, Quartzerine! I know you're here! Where'd you go? Come on, you can't tell me you changed Nests again! What's the big idea, sending me to those human towns –" she struggled briefly when her coattails caught on a shrubby outcropping – "and then moving nest? I know it's to train my nose and homing senses, but, Dad –!" Coffee-coloured hands grabbed at a deceptively stable rock, green eyes widened behind jade-studded glasses, and white hair fluttered as she fell.

"Hisuiryū no Hokou!" She roared, using the jade shards to propel herself back onto the mountain side. "Dad, please!" She whispered. "It's been a week already… Why did you move Nest whilst I was still sleeping? Where'd you go?" Thunder growled on the horizon, causing her shoulders to stiffen. Lightning crackled, and from the north, the rain came pouring down in bucket loads. Aubrey barely managed a whimper before the sheets hit her, turning the mountain earth into mud in seconds, and causing its integrity to crumble so quickly that it could no longer stand her weight.

"Hisuiryū no Hakari!" Aubrey cried desperately as the mud gathered her up, her body now covered in scales of varying shades of green. She struggled to keep herself above the mud, but it kept sucking her under, and even her impressive strength was waning.

_Quartzerine_, she whispered in her mind, just before everything went black.

**_ * . * . * _**

It was warm, and almost uncomfortably soft. What had Aubrey fallen asleep on, a sheep? Her fingers twitched, trying to decide.

"I think she's waking up!" Someone cried excitedly. Aubrey's brows furrowed – that was human, the language Boscan. What was going on?

Opening her eyes with some difficulty, Aubrey looked around the room, blinking once. "Where am I?" She asked quietly, hand still searching for her glasses. She only needed them for reading, but their weight was a comforting one.

"You're in the Wiseman's hut!" A small boy of about eight exclaimed, looking at her excitedly. No doubt she was the most interesting thing this boy had ever seen in this no-doubt secluded village, with her dark skin and bright hair.

"You are a very lucky young lady," a man in his late forties told her in a gravelly voice, passing her her glasses. "to have survived a mud slide like that."

Aubrey swallowed, then whispered, "I don't feel very lucky." Her hand reached for the metal at her throat, and her eyes widened when she couldn't feel the chain her father had placed there only the other day. "My pendant! Where is it?"

"Pendant?" Asked the Wiseman, confused. "Young lady, you just escaped the mountain with your life. A pendant is hardly an expense –"

"Don't lie to me!" Aubrey growled, getting out of the bedding on uneven legs, barely sparing the borrowed clothes a glance. "That was the last thing Quartzerine gave me! It's my treasure, now give it back!"

"Young lady!" The Wiseman exclaimed, drawing himself up to his full, unimpressive height. "Are you accusing me of theft?!"

"I don't care who took it!" Aubrey growled back, eyes dangerous. "My father gave me that before he disappeared, and it's precious to me, so give it back!"

The Wiseman backhanded Aubrey, sending her staggering. "Learn your place, woman!" He snarled.

"You shouldn't have done that," Aubrey whispered back, head still turned to the side. Her face snapped back to meet his, her eyes now slitted behind her glasses. With barely two steps between the two of them, the Wiseman registered only that her form seemed to blur briefly, and suddenly his head snapped back with a resounding _crack!_

"Now where is my pendant, and where are my clothes," Aubrey growled.

The small boy, staring up at her aghast, whispered, "You're a mage!" He drew breath to scream – for help? in fear? Aubrey didn't want to know – only for Aubrey to cover his mouth with her hand.

"My name is Aubrey, and I'm the Hisui no Metsuryū. Who are you?" She asked gently but firmly, removing her hand briefly.

"I – I – I'm Thom!" He squeaked. "I found you, I'm the Wiseman's Apprentice!" He shook like a leaf.

"It's nice to meet you, Thom. Do you know where my pendent is? It's a silver chain with a large green gem at the end."

Thom shook his head quickly, though his eyes glanced guiltily to the Wiseman's immobile form.

"Thom," Aubrey said quietly, crouching down and looking up at him, catching his eyes. "Do you know what the Jade Dragon stands for?" He shook his head furiously. "We stand for Truth. So I know when people lie to me. Let's try an easier question. Where are my clothes?"

"O-out the back!" Thom exclaimed. "They were covered with so much mud that the Wiseman said to toss them!"

Aubrey tried not to let that get to her – her clothes must have been filthy, for sure. "See? The truth isn't so hard to tell, now is it?" Thom shook his head again. "Now, let's try again. Where is my pendant?"

Swallowing hard, Thom shook his head more than ever. "I – I can't tell you! The Wiseman is my Master!"

Aubrey's eyes softened. "Well, I can respect that. You are certainly a brave one." She smiled at him softly, before striking a nerve at the back of his neck, stunning him. Placing the boy's body down gently, she then moved to the Wiseman and pushed the neck of his robes aside, revealing her pendent. Sighing in relief, she took it from him, and placed it back over her own neck, stroking the surface once softly. "Where _are_ you, Dad?" She whispered, looking down at the borrowed blue nightdress. It wouldn't last long in these mountains, so she moved quickly to the back door, following the traces of her own scent mixed with mud, planning to put her own clothes on overtop as protection about the chilly mountain nights.

Her coat looked as though it belonged to some great brown lizard, it was so caked in drying mud, and her underclothes had barely fared any better: her green pants and halter-necked shirt were still sticky with it, and even her armbands – once a pretty white and blue, a gift on her seventh birthday – were the colour of not-very-nice-things. The boots she'd been wearing still had miniature bogs inside, so she decided to repay the villagers their kindness, and 'liberate' some shoes instead.

Finding nothing in the Wiseman's house, she moved stealthily over to the next building, ears sharp as she did so.

The first house she tried smelled like Thom – his home, probably – and she could hear his parents talking inside. Finding a pair of sturdy boots outside of the next house that reasonably fit her, Aubrey listened to the conversation as she secured them with an extra buckle she made out of jade.

"Thom said the girl was covered in _scales_, when he found her!" A woman whispered worriedly, light footsteps pacing the interior and hiding any possible noise Aubrey made.

"Scales?" A man replied. "You don't think she's a _mage_, do you?" There was an undertone of panic in both their voices, sending a sick feeling to the very pit of Aubrey's stomach.

"The Wiseman told me that there was a carving of a dragon on the inside of her pendant!" The woman burst out suddenly, as though the words had been eating away at her. "And that boy they chased out of town this morning, who claimed he was looking for a metal dragon!"

Aubrey's eyes widened. _Gajeel-kun!_ She thought desperately, hoping that they'd keep talking, give her more information.

"I'm sure it's nothing, love," Her husband soothed, footsteps moving towards her voice. "That boy is too busy licking his wounds in the forest, or better yet, dead, to do anything to u –!"

He choked on his words, staring at the teenaged girl holding him by the neck against his own living room wall.

"Where. Is. Gajeel-kun." She snarled.

"Who?" He stuttered.

"Metalicana's brat! The Tetsu no Matsuryu!"

"I – I don't know what you're talking about!"

"You were just talking about him!" Aubrey yelled, at the end of her patience. "He's only ten, and he's not that bright, so do us all a favour and tell me where you chased him off, so that I can get the hell out of here!"

The father scowled. "Mage scum," He wheezed. Lips twisted into a snarl, Aubrey threw him across the room, disappearing whilst the Boscans were occupied.

Aubrey ran around the town edges, casting about for Gajeel's scent. _Guess I'll just have to find him on my own_, she thought grimly.

It was going to be a long night.

**Translations and Author's note:**

**Metsuryū Mahou – Dragon Slayer Magic**

**Hisuiryū no – Jade Dragon's**

**Hokou – roar**

**Hakari – scales**

**Hisui no Metsuryū – Jade Dragon Slayer**

**Tetsu no Metsuryū – Iron Dragon Slayer**

**_ * . * . * _**

**So, what do you think? Please review! I love constructive criticism! (will also give me an idea as to how soon I'll continue the updates – they're planned, just not written yet)**


	3. Chapter 2, Maybe

_Jade Force_

Chapter two: Maybe

**#Author note: **

**Oh my gods, you lot are amazing! I've never felt so loved! (slight exaggeration, just go with it)**

**Special shout out to the awesome reviewers, **loveredhairedshanks**,**Daxen123**, and **memarvo_(__**who I couldn't reply to, but thank you!**__)_**!**

**Anyway, lovelies, I'm going on holidays! See you in two weeks!**

A week passed, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for Aubrey to track Gajeel the closer to the border (and larger settlements) they got. She really hoped nothing too bad had happened to him, but judging on her own experience with the mage-hating locals, and the smell of blood that had joined Gajeel's scent two days ago, she doubted it.

If only she knew where Quartzerine was! It had been three weeks! And whatever was going on _must_ have happened to Metalicana as well, since it was a four day trek from his and Gajeel's nest to Quartzerine and Aubrey's. Had Gajeel come searching for Quartzerine to help, and gotten lost? They'd changed Nest many times since the last time Gajeel had visited – and that had been when Aubrey and Metalicana were still on speaking terms, when V… no, Aubrey had promised herself she wouldn't dwell on those memories. It was too painful.

At the rate they were going, though, Aubrey estimated that they would cross the border into neighbouring Fiore within the next few days. She was still at least a day's travel behind Gajeel, having had to fight off bandits and the odd male traveller. Hopefully Gajeel hadn't had the same problems in that area, because that _would_ be disturbing, but the mountains attracted all sorts of characters.

_Fiore_… she mused to herself as she walked down a path lined with scraggly trees. From what little she knew of the other country (Quartzerine was good with Geography, but not human society or politics), Mages were actually a part of the daily life. They joined _Guilds_, something like a large, extended family group, which was where they could find jobs to do in exchange for _money_ (a human method of trading paper notes or shiny coins for desired objects, food or creatures), and often did pretty well for themselves. At the time, Aubrey had been about six or seven, easily impressed with such an idea. She'd asked Quartzerine if _she_ could join one of these Guilds. He'd laughed, and said, _maybe someday, precious one. When you're bigger, and don't need me anymore_.

She had pouted, and told him that _of course_ she'd always need him, he was her father.

"Where are you?" She whispered, pausing to look up at the sky again, hoping to see a large green silhouette.

Shaking her head, Aubrey continued forward, fingering her pendant. "If… if we _do_ end up in Fiore," She whispered, mind far away from the path. "Perhaps… Perhaps a guild has seen them. The dragons, and Gajeel-kun… and maybe… maybe, I can join one! Just for a little, of course! But… maybe…" She smiled softly. "Yeah. Maybe."

**_ * . * . * _**

Risley really _hated_ her native country. She didn't hate a lot of things. That just wasn't in her character. But Bosco? They _really_ didn't like mages, and they underestimated a chubby girl! Even though she had difficulty using magic – she hadn't found the right one yet – her best friend, Arania, was a very strong mage in their guild, Mermaid Heel. If they were going to hate Arania for her magic, and hate Risley for her appearance… Argh! It mad her so mad! But missions to Bosco paid the best, so they had to put up with it.

They were only going just over the border this time, to deal with some human traders that were getting out of hand. Risley did the research and got the information she needed by working as a barmaid in town. Arania would take out the traders. With her Web Magic and their combined strategies, the two girls were a well accomplished team.

It was going pretty well, until the second week Risley worked the bar. She'd gotten almost enough information for them to move in and destroy the trading base, when she heard an interesting tale about a mage girl that they had caught, and were having trouble keeping her contained without the use of heavy tranquilisers. The tale got even more interesting when Risley heard what magic she claimed to use.

Metsuryū no Mahou. Lost Magic.

"Are you sure?" Arania gasped, staring at her friend.

"There's no mistaking it – I heard it from every source."

"But!" Arania stared. "How could she? It's called a _Lost_ Magic for a reason!"

"That's just what they say!" Risley said back. "Anyway, it doesn't matter! There's a young mage stuck there, being held hostage and drugged! We have to help her!"

Arania shook her head. "We'll do that anyway, Ris-chan. But how are we going to do that? Do you know where the hideout is yet?"

Risley nodded, pulling a piece of paper and a pencil over, as well as a topographic map of the area. They were _definitely_ going to rescue that girl!

**_ * . * . * _**

_Everything was… fuzzy. I really shouldn't have let my guard down, in this country. Hmm… I hope they didn't get Gajeel-kun too. I don't think I'm lucid enough to save myself, let alone the two of us…_

_I remember the first time I met him, though. When Quartzerine started sending me into the human towns so that I could learn about them first hand. Five? Six? Something like that. Metalicana's mate had suggested it. Her daughter, Fjorda, was the Water Dragon Slayer, but she lived in a village not too far from the two Nests. I would spend a day or two every week learning about humans and their society from her. She was married to a Boscan man, and she had little Gajeel._

_He was so cute. I was his second word, the first being Mama._

_But… it was stupid of us. In Bosco, magic and mages are feared. For two Dragon slayers to be in the same town? For a mage to have a child? It was a recipe for disaster. And then it got worse. Fjorda had another son, Raios. I was seven, he six months old, that I screwed everything up._

_We were talking about the Festival of the Dragon King. Quartzerine had mentioned it to me, that his brother, Zirconis, had died then, so I was asking Fjorda about it when she was giving Raios a bath. She used the water to describe each scene as it happened._

"_Remember, Aubrey-chan!" She laughed when I cheered over her figurines. "We're different to the other Dragon Slayers. We're all Creation-type mages, but," She twirled a finger, and the water followed – baby Raios laughed. "You and I are different. Our elements aren't as ethereal as the others. Water, Jade, Iron, even Lightning! We can change our bodies, control these elements, better than the other Dragons. Remember that, Aubrey-chan." She tickled Gajeel under the chin. "You too, Gajeel-kun!"_

"_Do you think Gajeel-kun will learn magic too, Fjorda-nee?" I asked, hugging the three-year-old to me as he struggled away from his mother's fingers._

_She laughed, removing Raios from the bath and wrapping him in a towel. "Can't you smell it on him yet, Aubrey-chan? Both my boys are going to go far!"_

_The door slammed open then, revealing her husband, a furious scowl on his face. The smile dropped from Fjorda's, and she stood between her husband and us children._

"_Aubrey-chan, take Gajeel with you today, please." Her voice was so quiet only a dragon's ears could have picked the words._

"_Fjorda, is it true?" He growled, concentrating on her, and not noticing me and Gajeel slipping out of the window. We crouched beneath the sill; I placed a finger to Gajeel-kun's mouth, smiled reassuringly, and he nodded with a big smile._

"_You can use _magic_? And you gave it to our sons, you cursed our _sons_!" _

"_Now, there's no need to yell, Hanzu." She said softly._

"_No _need_?! You've cursed our children! They're better off dead!" There was a sudden silence, a terrible silence. "_You're_ better off dead."_

"_Run!" Fjorda yelled in Draconian._

_That was the last I ever heard from her, and the last I ever saw baby Raios. I ran with Gajeel in my arms all the way back to Metalicana's Nest, which was the closer one. Vestra, his mate, went to retrieve Fjorda's body. Gajeel stayed with Metalicana and his Nest, learning Iron Dragon Slayer Magic. I went home with Quartzerine._

_And that was that. _

**Author Note**

**-_-" Ah, maybe a bit too dark towards the end there? Anyway, please keep the reviews coming! Any and all constructive criticism is welcomed!**

**Brisnova, here I come!**


	4. Chapter 3, Well if it's ok

_Jade Force_

Chapter three: Well, if it's ok…

**#Author note: **

**Waah, minna I'm sorry I took so long! I had horrible writers block! But I hope you all had a wonderful holidays, with lots of food and gifts!**

_I see many things in my dreams. This time, it's a redheaded man with three scars dragging across his left eye, smiling at me. "Ready, Aubrey?" His grin was full of the promise of fun and adventure. Laughing, he tipped a straw hat back on his head, and turned away. The future dream – for it could be nothing else, I've never seen him before in my life –tailed off, leaving me in darkness for a while._

_I hope Gajeel-kun is ok…._

"Ris-chan, she's waking up!"

… Huh? The language was Fioran!

Blinking slowly, Aubrey squinted slightly, trying to take in the floating faces above her. One was a girl not too much older than her, maybe sixteen or seventeen, with heavy blonde curls, whilst the other girl is Aubrey's age or younger, maybe thirteen instead of fourteen, with a halo of black friz for hair.

"Give her space, Arania-chan!" The frizzy-haired one exclaimed, getting in closer to Aubrey anyway.

She tried to pull away, staring at them. "Who –?"

"Oh, where are our manners?!" The frizzy-haired one exclaimed then, pulling back out of her space as the blonde handed Aubrey her glasses. "This is Arania Webb, and I'm Risley Law! We're Mermaid Heel mages, we rescued you!" She smiled brilliantly.

"Rescued… me?" Aubrey's eyes widened then. "Gajeel-kun!" She exclaimed, sitting up quickly. "Gajeel-kun, was he there?! Did you see him?"

They exchange looks, before turning back to Aubrey. "You were the youngest person there, and there weren't too many boys. What did he look like, though?"

"He's not too big, long black hair, pierced ears, scars on his right arm – please, he's ten! Did you see my little brother?"

They exchange glances, before both shook their heads. "Sorry." They said together.

Aubrey bowed her head at that. "Well, if he wasn't there, then hopefully he never was," She murmured. Her eyes widen then, though. "How long have I been out?"

"It's been almost a week since we rescued you." Risley said.

"What?" Aubrey whispered, staring at them in shock. "A _week_?! I'm never going to find him now!"

"We can try and help!" Risley exclaimed.

"No offense," Aubrey began, "But I don't think you're cut out for this."

"Don't underestimate a chubby girl!" Risley yelled, making Aubrey wince.

"What does body-type have to do with this?" She grumbled back. "I meant that it's unlikely that there's any trace of Gajeel-kun left. Unless either of you know some kind of tracking magic?" She raised her brows at that. They shook their heads, and Aubrey nodded back. "I thought so. I've been using my nose this whole time, but I doubt if the scent will still be around, especially after however much traffic has been on the road." She clenched her fists. "I've failed him!" She whispered.

"What are you talking about, huh?" Risley demanded.

"Let's think about this logically," Arania agreed soothingly. "What direction has he been travelling in?"

Aubrey looked up at both of them, and hardened her gaze. "You're both right." She nodded. "If he's stayed on the course he's been following for the last month, then he should have crossed the border into Fiore by now… But how to find a little Dragon Slayer in a country that big?!"

"Oh, that should be easy!" Arania smiled. "Just find some way to get into _Weekly Sorcerer_, and mention how you're trying to find your adorable little brother, and before you know it, every single person who's reading it will be looking for him."

Aubrey's breath catches in her throat – _could it really be that easy?!_ – before she looked back to the two guild mages with a hard look in her eyes. "How do I get into this _Weekly Sorcerer_?"

"That's easy enough," Risley said whilst Arania nodded. "Just join a guild, and make a name for yourself. For a Dragon Slayer like you, it shouldn't take too long, especially if you choose a guild that already has some coverage. Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, Phantom Lord, Fairy Tail, Mermaid Heel … they're the ones that are in the papers the most."

"Mermaid Heel…? That's your guild, isn't it?" Aubrey finally said quietly.

The other two girls gasped. "Will you join us?!" They cheered, making Aubrey flinch and cover her ears with a grimace.

Rubbing her ear, Aubrey said quietly, "Well, if it's ok with you two. I don't know where those other guilds are."

"Yatta!" The two mermaids cheered, hugging each other. "We have a Dragon Slayer!"

**_ * . * . * _**

After cleaning up and letting Aubrey regain her strength, it took another week for the three girls to return to the town of Salix*, where Mermaid Heel was situated. The hardest part had been when they had to catch a train, something Aubrey had only ever read about – and deeply regretted. It turned out that she had severe motion sickness, and Risley and Arania had had to carry her from the station to the guild themselves, she'd been so weak.

"Never again," She moaned. "Humans must be some kind of sadistic to come up with _that_ for transport!"

"Now, now, Au-chan!" Risley laughed. "It wasn't that bad!"

Aubrey gave her a truly scary stink eye for that.

Finally reaching the Guild Hall, situated just outside of town, the three mages stopped right at the door.

"Please wait a moment," Aubrey asked quietly. "I want to make a good impression to the Master! So I have to go in on my own."

"Tadaima!" Risley and Arania called, opening the doors after Aubrey nodded, having swallowed hard and drawn herself up straight.

"Okaeri!" Countless female voices called back. Aubrey looked around with wide eyes.

"Wow," She murmured in Draconian.

"O~h?" Someone cooed. "Who've you got there, Ris-chan, Ara-chan?"

"Master!" They exclaimed.

"This is Aubrey!" Risley told her proudly. "Don't underestimate her!"

"Really?" The Master asked, stepping out of the shadows. "Well, aren't you a cutie?"`

Aubrey cocked her head to one side. "Really? I've never thought of myself that way."

The Master raised her brows at that – with her coffee-coloured skin and white hair, those big green eyes, and that truly adorable puff-sleeved coat of hers…! Ah, but now wasn't the time for that!

"Well, Aubrey-chan, let's hear it, then! Why do you want to become a Mermaid?"

"Oh, that? Well, I… I've always wanted to join a guild, ever since Quartzerine told me about them as a kit. But now that he's missing, and I need to find Gajeel-kun, Risley and Arania suggested a guild, and since they rescued me, I figured, you know, maybe Mermaid Heel would be nice?" There was colour in Aubrey's cheeks by the end of that, not a hundred per cent used to explaining her motives to anyone other than her father.

The Master raised her brows again, though. "Really? Well, Aubrey-chan, what kind of magic do you use? You're more than welcome to join us, but I'd like to know, all the same."

Aubrey's face lit up then, and she happily declared, "Dragon Slayer Magic! I'm the Jade Dragon Slayer!"

The guild went quiet.

Blinking in confusion, Aubrey cocked her head to the side. "Um, did I say something wrong?"

"EH?! DRAGON SLAYER?!"

**Translations:**

**Yatta – hurray!**

**Tadaima – we're back/home **

**Okaeri – welcome back/home!**

***Salix – goat willow tree, or more commonly referred to as Pussy willow (you understand why I changed the name -_-") There are a lot of stories about pussy willows, and I kinda just went 'stuff it, let's call it pussy willow!' It'll also have some minor reference later on, so stay tuned ;)**

**Author's note:**

**I've deliberately written 'kit' instead of 'kid' above. Dragon kit, human kid… does that make sense? That the Dragon Slayers see themselves more as dragons than as humans?**

**I'm really sorry I took so long to update! Please forgive me! I might be a little while in updating, we're doing a stocktake at work, but I'm **_**hoping**_** to update a little after New Years. If you have any suggestions about a better town name, or things you'd like to see whilst Aubrey's at Mermaid Heel, feel free to send me a message in one way shape or form!**

**Also, **loveredhairedshanks**, it might be another couple of chapters before we finally meet Shanks, but I gave him a small cameo for you at the top!**


	5. Chapter 4, Nasuada

_Jade Force_

Chapter four: Nasuada

**#Author note: **

**Here's a birthday present from me to you! Please don't forget to read and review!**

**Have I done a disclaimer at any point in stage? Well, Mashima and Oda are the masters, not me.**

Aubrey was holding her ears, trying desperately to block the shrill squeals of her new guild mates.

"Are you really a Dragon Slayer?"

"Where did you learn that?!"

"That's a _Lost_ Magic, how can you do that?"

"Girls, girls!" The Master finally called out, quieting them. "Let the poor girl breath!"

Cautiously, Aubrey removed her hands from her ears, looking around at the hundred odd women and girls before her. Taking in a deep breath, she declared, "I learnt my magic from my father, Quarterzine – the Jade Dragon!"

There were more murmurings, at that, until, finally, "Prove it."

The speaker was a large, heavily-muscled woman with skin some shades darker than Aubrey's own with dark brown ringlets that Aubrey was almost jealous of. "Metsuryū Mahou is said to be the most destructive and powerful of magicks. So let's see how you fare, brat. Prove your capabilities."

"Nasuada!" Risley exclaimed, moving forward.

"Aren't you the one who said not to underestimate her?" The hulking woman demanded.

"Yes, but –!" Risley began.

"I accept," Aubrey interrupted. Her green eyes were steely behind her glasses. "What are the terms?"

Nasuada raised her brows – this girl had guts. "There is a glen out the back of the guild. Behind that is an arena, which is where we'll do battle. We fight until one submits to the other."

An emotion flashed through Aubrey's eyes, too fast for Nasuada to recognise.

"What are the stakes, _exactly_?"

Nasuada raised her brows. "If I win, you leave, and you never associate your name with this guild. In the unlikely event that _you_ win, then you may stay, and I'll accept that you are truly a Dragon Slayer."

Aubrey nodded once, holding out her hand, which, after a moment, Nasuada shook. Beneath the two of them, a greenish-white magic circle with a dragon's face in the centre opened with a sound similar to a gong. "The deal is struck!" Aubrey declared. "And that is the Truth of the matter – we are both bound by these words, and so, we will follow through with them!"

"What did you do?!" Nasuada snarled, grabbing the front of Aubrey's collar.

Aubrey looked at her levelly. "It is the Jade Dragon's job to make sure all deals struck are kept amongst the Nests. We struck a deal. And I am the Jade Dragon Slayer."

Nasuada shook for a moment, before letting go of Aubrey's jacket collar. That steady gaze from behind those green-tinted glasses… it was unnerving.

"You have ten minutes to prepare yourself, _wench_," She spat instead.

**_ * . * . * _**

"Are you ready?" The Master called from her box in the stadium that surrounded the arena, she and the Guild safe behind Magic Neutralising Barriers.

Both mages nodded curtly, eyeing each other.

Master sighed, before adding, "Then you may begin."

Aubrey settled into a ready stance and, to the shock of the audience, removed her glasses and closed her eyes.

"_EH?!"_ The Mermaid Heel mages exclaimed.

"Are you stupid?" Nasuada whispered, before shaking her head, moving forward, charging her magic into her fists, and _punching._

She missed; her magical power was released in a shock wave that caused the barriers to ripple with discharge. The force made the tassels on Aubrey's shoulder bands flutter wildly, but even so, Aubrey's eyes remained closed, her face serene.

Nasuada gritted her teeth, and aimed another powerful punch, followed by more increasingly stronger and faster shots. Not a single one hit Aubrey.

"Master?" Arania whispered by her elbow, clutching Aubrey's coat tightly. "What's going on? Has Aubrey-chan used something to make Nasuada miss? To do something like that, to our strongest S-Class wizard…!"

"Do you really think that?" The Master asked her quietly. "After all that talk of 'keeping the Truth'?" Her eyes never left the battle below.

Nasuada's most powerful attack so far, with all of the power of her shoulders and legs behind it, finally made an impression – previously, all of Aubrey's dodges had been so slight that only the Master had been able to see them. On this occasion though, she visibly swayed to her right, twisted, crouched, and kicked Nasuada off her feet, making the other Mermaids gasp in shock. Continuing her motion, she twisted up, having drawn breath the whole time, and releasing it once she faced Nasuada again, with a shout.

"Hisuiryū no Hokou!"

Thousands of brilliant jade shards shot from her mouth straight for Nasuada, just as she was jumping back on her feet. The breath attack took her in the chest and flung her back into the barriers.

Aubrey was still semi crouched where she'd started, ears facing where Nasuada had landed, eyes still shut. Nasuada got up with a snarl.

"Hisui no Hakari," Aubrey said quietly, green scales racing up and over every visible bit of skin.

Nasuada launched herself forward, kicking and swinging, her limbs a blur. Aubrey's dodges were now visible to the other guild members, as she ducked and weaved, always exactly where Nasuada's shots _weren't_. It was almost as if she knew just where Nasuada was going to strike before she actually did! But that must just be fanciful thoughts on they, the audience's, part, surely?

Aubrey could tell that Nasuada's stamina was on par with, perhaps even greater than, her own. So waiting for Nasuada to tire might not be the best way to victory. From what she understood from the crowd's murmuring before, Nasuada was one of their S-Class wizards – one of the strongest mages in the guild, after the Master. Simply predicting where the shots would go and dodging them, Aubrey wasn't going to win this way. She would have to start using her higher spells.

Of course, it did help that she could 'see' what Nasuada would do before she did it.

Finally sick of her shots missing, Nasuada jumped back a few paces and punched the ground with a grim smile. _See if you can dodge _this,_ wench!_

Aubrey's face had creased in a frown seconds before Nasuada had jumped backwards, and _just before_ she punched the ground, Aubrey had given a small jump herself, landing in a crouch just as the first tremor had shot through the ground, lifting her back up and into the air, concentrating her magic.

Of course, with her extra sense open for the battle, Aubrey wasn't _just_ seeing Nasuada's next move – she was hearing the voices of the future.

_A dragon's lungs to breath fire…_ A young someone whispered in her ear as she drew in a deep breath, launching another roar at Nasuada. Although, of course, her breath was full of jade shards, not fire.

_A dragon's scales to dissolve fire…_ Her jade scales shielded her from the debris and deflected shards that her roar had stirred up.

Landing on the ground lightly, she rushed at Nasuada, for the first time in this battle taking the offensive. _A dragon's claws to wrap in flames… _Though the vicious claws she lashed out with through the clearing dust from her last attack were made of sharp semi-precious stone.

_A magic that transforms your own body parts into those of a dragon's…_

"Hisuiryū no Yokugeki!" She slashed her arms up and over, sending spiralling, glittering shards of jade towards Nasuada, who only just managed to dodge, taken aback by the sudden change in Aubrey's demeanour.

_Metsuryū no Mahou!_

Aubrey ran in behind her attack, her jade scales protecting her from her own shards, more jade covering her right arm and left elbow, creating large points. "Hisuiryū no Nanarenbu!" Nasuada didn't see her shoot from the dust until suddenly she was there with, what seemed to Nasuada, multiple green swords swinging straight for her.

Managing to recover, Nasuada landed a blow on one of the swords, causing it to shatter; it didn't seem to sway Aubrey, who just twisted quickly, lashing out with the elbow blade from the opposite arm, catching Nasuada across the nose, before Aubrey danced backwards, crouching again, a new magic circle opening beneath her feet.

"Metsuryū Ougi! Hikari no Hashira!" A large pentagonal spire made entirely of jade shot up from beneath Nasuada's feet, growing some thirty feet straight into the air, with Nasuada trapped in the centre.

"Be judged by the Truth," Aubrey declared quietly as the pillar begin to glow, opening her eyes and replacing her glasses. "Let your lies be your binding."

The stadium was quiet.

"Well," The Master called down finally. "Where would you like your Guild Mark?" 

**Translation:**

**Hisuiryū no Yokugeki – Jade Dragon's Wingslash**

**Hisuiryū no Nanarenbu – Jade Dragon's Seven Slice Dance**

**Metsuryū Ougi – Dragon Slayer's Secret Art**

**Hikari no Hashira – Pillar of Light**

**Author's Note:**

**Guys, I'm having trouble trying to figure out how to make the Master look etc – please, **_**ANY and ALL **_**suggestions are welcomed.**

**Also, can anybody guess who the 'young someone' from before was? XD**

**Last one, for those who've read chapter 415 *gross sobbing*, don't worry, it's not going to have too big of an effect on the storyline, but we'll cross that bridge later.**


	6. Chapter 5, Iceberg

_Jade Force_

Chapter five: Iceberg

***waves a white flag* I'm so, **_**so**_** sorry about how long it's been! I had really bad writers block for this, and the only reason **Eleutheromania** was published is because **Shibo26** was tossing ideas around with me for ages, and she keeps helping me out when I get stuck. *hint hint?*  
****Also, the person Aubrey was hearing during the last chapter was Happy – I quoted directly from the first episode.**

* * *

_X 779, Mountain Ranges, Iceberg_

"Who goes there?!" The guards on the walls called.

"We're wizards from the guild Mermaid Heel, in Fiore!" Aubrey called back up, her puff-sleeved coat wrapped tightly around herself as the wind whipped her shoulder-length hair about her face. Risley and a violently shivering Arania stood next to her – well, Risley's hair certainly did, anyway. The winds were having a field day with those curls. "Did you get the message that we were coming?"

"Show us your marks, just in case! All of you!"

With a sigh, Aubrey opened her coat to reveal the dark green mark on her right lower stomach; Risley lifted her cape and twisted, showing the dark blue mark on her left lower back, and a suddenly depressed Arania removed her coat and pulled the shoulder of her yellow blouse down, revealing her black guild mark on her upper arm.

"They're legit!" The guards called to someone the girls couldn't see. As the gates opened, the three mages moved inside, reapplying their layers. Arania was looking a bit blue about the gills.

"I'm Aubrey Nephrite, and these are my teammates, Risley Law and Arania Webb!" Aubrey called once the gates were closed behind them. Whispers immediately took up as soon as Aubrey had said her name – "Dragonet", her epithet, raced from person to person. Even two countries over, even in such a remote village, she was known here – had Gajeel-kun heard of her yet? Did he know where to look?

"You are all S-class?" A representative, an aging man with grey hair, asked them.

Aubrey shook her head, pushing her glasses further up her nose and gesturing to her friends as she named them. "Just Arania and myself, though please don't underestimate Risley's abilities."

The representative nodded, and invited them into his house, which they gladly accepted – Aubrey couldn't smell a thing; the ice burnt her nose, and it sucked. A nice warm room should help with that, as well as staving off the cold Arania was no-doubt going to catch when they were finished.

The buildings were all low to the ground and made from thick pine trees from the forests further down the mountain range, and inside, a healthily-sized fire roared in the fireplace. Aubrey steered her friends to stand directly in front of the flames, making sure they were alright before turning back to the town representative, holding out the flyer that had brought them across two countries.

"The request says that your village has been under siege from a dragon for over a month, and that it has taken the lives of many of the people who live here. Can you tell me more details about this?"

The man nodded. "Yes! The dragon is a red one the size of two houses, and it has such a horrible temper! The first time it attacked, it destroyed half of the village, and took one of our young women! Two days later it came again, stealing food and another girl; it comes every second day, taking food we can't spare, as well as another one of our women! And whenever we try to stop it, it kills us!"

Aubrey's eyes narrowed. This didn't sound like any dragon she had ever met.

"Do you know the dragon's name?" She only knew two red dragons, the King, Igneel, and that weirdo-scholar cousin of his, Yeoleum.

"Name?!" Exclaimed the representative. "It's a monster! We weren't going to ask its _name_!"

Aubrey sighed, rubbing her temples. She hadn't slept well the night before, and now she had this cuckoo saying such things… Was there really a dragon here? What use could one possibly have for human women? Aubrey would be more inclined to believe it was someone with transformation or illusion magic… If only she could use her nose!

"So you don't have any pictures, then, as well?" At the incredulous face the man pulled, Aubrey sighed and bowed her head. "Please tell me you can at least say in which direction the … dragon … has been coming and going from?"

"It comes from any directions, quiet as a wraith! We never know what's happened until the girl's start screaming."

_How curious_, Aubrey thought. _To think I passed up a visit to Fairy Tail just for this_…

"As soon as this wind dies down, we'll head out." Aubrey told him authoritatively. "If it is possible for us to stay in front of the fire until then?"

The representative began whining. "But shouldn't you get onto chasing down that monster? He's meant to attack tonight!"

Aubrey allowed a small frown to form. "We can't chase after something dangerous if we don't know where it is, what it looks like, or what it is capable of. That's just stupid." _Although it sounds exactly like something that Natsu-kun would try_, she thought wryly in regards to Igneel's son. "If tonight is a part of the pattern, though, who do you believe may be the next victim? Has there been any set pattern to the abductions?"

The representative thought for a while, before finally saying that so far it had only been women in their late teens to early twenties, and the only one who still fit that description lived on the other side of town. At this, Aubrey immediately asked to be shown to wherever the girl, Kenzie Sieg, was currently, so that they could set up a protective detail. After a very long-winded five minutes, the girls were finally taken to meet their new charge.

After introductions and explanations had been made, the representative left the four girls together. Kenzie reminded the mages of Nasuada, with her dark curls and deep eyes.

"Do you have any idea why these events have been occurring?" Aubrey asked as her friends once again were sat right in front of the fireplace.

Kenzie hesitated, then shook her head. Aubrey's eyes narrowed.

"A-are you s-s-sure?" Arania chattered, still shivering. She had noticed the hesitation and picked up on Aubrey's disbelief. Hey, you aren't partners for two years and not learn about each other.

Kenzie jumped slightly, nodding her head quickly. All three of the mages were staring her down now.

"_Quite_ sure, Kenzie-san?" Aubrey asked coolly, her glasses reflecting the firelight eerily.

"Y-yes, Nephrite-san!"

"Did you know?" Risley's words were cheerful, but her face was quite dark in comparison.

"The Jade Dragon is the Dragon of truth," Arania joined, not-stuttering by sheer force of will.

Aubrey's smile was positively _deadly_. "And I'm the Jade Dragon Slayer. So if you'd like to amend that statement?" Jade scales crept from her collar to her cheekbones. As it always did, the routine worked to perfection – Kenzie started spilling the whole story.

"This village is so suffocating! Yeoleum is just trying to help us get out of here!" Ah, so it was him, that half-dragon. "All they expect the women to do is cook and clean and be housewives who bear lots of sons! We're not allowed to have any other dreams, and we can never leave the village walls – and we didn't want that! We wanted to be able to make our own choices, and, well, Yeoleum was travelling through a little while ago, and he had all these books on dragons, and he said he had a kind of dragon magic, and that he'd help get us all away!"

Aubrey shook her head with a soft sigh, running her hand through her white fringe. "He's always been like that, that Yeoleum. When is he going to pick you up? It's tonight, right?"

Kenzie's eyes flew wide. "You can't stop him! _Please_, I don't want to stay here!"

"Why would I try and stop him?" Aubrey asked crossly. "I'm going to help him. But he's going to answer some questions for me, first."

"O-oh…" Kenzie trailed off. She fidgeted for a moment, before saying, "He's meant to be coming once the winds die down…"

"Right." Aubrey nodded, cracking her knuckles. She turned to her friends. "Let's eat before then, shall we? I plan on having a nice long talk with that Fire Dragon, and I don't want to do it on an empty stomach!"

**_ * . * . * _**

"You didn't sleep again last night, did you?" Risley murmured to Aubrey whilst Kenzie and Arania weren't listening.

Her friend looked at her out of the corner of her eyes, and sighed. "No, I didn't, Ris-chan. You know I haven't slept properly all week."

"Is it those dreams still? The Futuretell ones?"

"Mm," Aubrey nodded, rubbing her eyes under her glasses. "Last night it was some straw hat. But every other night has been that redheaded man with the scars – the one that looks like Fairy Tail's Gildarts Clive."

"And you're sure it isn't Gildarts?"

Aubrey glared. "I've looked and I've check multiple times, Ris-chan! The hair's wrong, for one, and Gildarts doesn't have the scars, either. And he doesn't have any family, I asked when I went to meet Natsu-kun three months ago. He was married once, he says, but she died a few years ago, and they'd been separated for years before that."

"Is he important to you, in the future, do you think?" Risley asked finally, after they were both quiet.

"He must be." Aubrey sighed in frustration. "Every night, he's asking me to come to sea with him – I don't even _like_ boats! I get motion sickness!"

"Don't underestimate yourself, Au-chan!' Risley told her bracingly. It was at that moment, of course, that Yeoleum chose to 'attack'.

**_ * . * . * _**

**Again, I'm SO sorry with how long I took! I'll try my best to update again soon!  
**…**. If you were curious at all, though, I got accepted into Uni!**


	7. Chapter 6, Yeoleum the Scholar

_Jade Force_

Chapter six: Yeoleum the Scholar

**Guest-san, I'm sorry about that! It was in my head, too, but I couldn't think of anything else for the chapter name and kinda just went 'meh' ^_^" But Aubrey will be headed into the One Piece verse very very shortly! Thank you for the review!  
****Warning! If you aren't up-to-date with the manga as of the Tartaros Arc (ie finding out where the Dragons have been all this time), then please go and catch up! Otherwise you are going to get Spoilers in the next couple of chapters!**

* * *

Arania was _not_ sold on Aubrey's plan. Trying to both preserve Mermaid Heel's image _and_ be able to have a civil conversation with a Dragon that could potentially lead her to her missing father…? Arania didn't have a lot of faith in this plan, no. Currently, it was to put on a bit of a show: get into a 'fight' with Yeoleum, get 'knocked out', and then have Aubrey and Kenzie 'kidnapped'.

It had _started_ without a hitch, in Aubrey's defence. Yeoleum hadn't recognised her until she'd tried to let him in on the plan in Draconian. Unfortunately the fire Dragon had a _very_ loud voice, and even though he'd continued to speak in the Dragon's ancient tongue, it was very obvious that he and Aubrey were close. And even if the locals _couldn't_ understand what was being said, they could certainly understand the tone!

"_Shut up, you old gas-bag_!" Aubrey hissed desperately, rushing at him with her _Nanarenbu_ blades. Jade swords clashed against Dragon talons – Arania and Risley pretended disbelief that Aubrey couldn't hit the red-and-black Dragon. "We want to help you get Kenzie-san out!"

"_But it's been sooo long since I last saw you, Hisui-hime_!" He exclaimed.

"_We can catch up later! Go along with the plan already_!"

"_But I don't know what the plan is_!" He whined.

"_That's what you get for not paying attention_!" Aubrey yelled back. Grumbling, she added, "_Just keep fighting us. Eventually, do something that looks like it would knock us out, and then take Kenzie-san and myself, ok?_"

The (relatively small) Dragon laughed, then gave a rather shiteating grin Aubrey recognised with some misgivings. "_I'm all fired up, now!_"

"U-um," Aubrey trailed off in Fioran. Arania and Risley looked at her worriedly at that. "Scatter!" Aubrey yelled at them, rushing towards Yeoleum, jade scaled growing over her body. "_If you destroy my clothes, I'll make a new coat out of _you_, Yeoleum!_" She threatened.

Arania shot a string of webs at Yeoleum's right foreleg, tying it down, before racing over to the other side and getting his back left as well. Risley pulled Kenzie 'out of the way', standing guard over her.

"Karyū no…" Yeoleum began, drawing in a deep breath. Aubrey felt the colour drain from her face. "Houkou!"

Predictably, much of the area exploded. Arania and Risley both groaned, struggling to pull themselves back on their feet, only for Yeoleum to swipe them both out of the way with his tail.

"Ris-chan! Ara-chan!" Aubrey called – this wasn't acting! Stupid fire Dragon! – before being grabbed in Yeoleum's claws and shooting into the sky. "_Hey! This wasn't the plan! You better not have actually hurt them!_"

The Dragon's laughter echoed throughout the small village terrifyingly, and even though there were buildings on fire, many of the tenants were unwilling to leave the meagre protection their houses provided.

**_ * . * . * _**

Aubrey fumed the whole trip back to Yeoleum's cave hide out. When he landed and took Kenzie and Aubrey inside, she glared the whole time, waiting for him to transform into a human man.

"Kenzie-chan," Yeoleum smiled charmingly. His human form was a dark-skinned young man in his twenties with red-tipped black hair. "Please make yourself comfortable in the spare room over there. I'll take you to the next town tomorrow, and then you are free to travel wherever you like."

"Thank you so much, Yeoleum-san!" Kenzie exclaimed, bowing low. She went into the other room, leaving Aubrey and Yeoleum to their conversation.

"I'll be blunt," Aubrey began. "Do you know where Quartzerine is? Metallicana? Igneel?"

Yeoleum hummed, taking a seat amongst the cushions scattered all over the cave floor and examining the bowl of fruit in the room's middle. "Yes." He finally answered, taking a bite out of a peach. "I know where all six of the Kings are. However, I can't tell you myself."

"Why the hell not?!" Aubrey exclaimed. "Aren't they concerned for their children?! I may have been thirteen at the time, but I was the oldest! Gajeel-kun and Natsu-kun were ten! What about Grandeeney, Skiadrum and Weislogia's children? They couldn't have been more than seven!"

"I have been sworn to secrecy by my cousin and his fellow Kings," Yeoleum told her sadly. "Their … absence is all to help you children in the future."

"_Then they could have explained why they had to leave_!" Aubrey yelled, switching back into her native Boscan. "_If it concerns us, then why weren't we informed_?!"

Yeoleum sighed, running a hand through his odd hair. "Because information regarding your future could change the paths you are all destined to walk! You know the rules, anyway, Hisui-hime. I cannot disobey the command of my King."

"You've done it before," Aubrey growled, tears at the corners of her eyes. "when you learnt the magic that allows you to wear that form!" She gestured at his human body. "Dad told me that you were the only Dragon who didn't fight in the War, four hundred years ago."

There was pain in Yeoleum's eyes, then. "That is something that has haunted me for centuries," He told her quietly, getting up and walking to the bookshelf on the opposite wall.

"And because of the consequences of those actions, you won't tell me where our parents are." Aubrey surmised bitterly.

Yeoleum ran his hands over the spines of his precious books. "Yes." He said simply, pulling one of the books from the shelf, suddenly moving around his cave with purpose, filling a bag with the book he'd chosen and other odds and ends. "Come," He said finally. "Kenzie-chan, I'll be back in a little while!" Yeoleum called, taking Aubrey's hand and tugging her back outside.

"I'll take you and your friends to the border between Iceberg and Bosco – you can find your way home from there?" He asked, turning back into the red-and-black dragon.

Aubrey frowned at him, confused. "Why are you –"

"If I were to face your father the King and tell him I hadn't helped out his precious daughter, how do you think he'd react?" Yeoleum demanded, lifting her onto his back and taking off.

Aubrey had almost forgotten the thrill that came with riding on a Dragon's back. And up here, with the icey wind whipping past her face, no one could see her tears. Yeoleum flew at a far greater speed with her on his back than he had when he had been holding her and Kenzie in his claws. They reached the village quickly; Yeoleum dived, grabbed Risley and Arania, and swooped back up and into the sky, flying towards the border. (For the record, Risley and Arania weren't _screaming_, they were just taken by surprise!)

The trip on a Dragon's back took two hours – it had taken them a week and a half on foot. When Yeoleum landed, Risley and Arania had struggled to get the feeling back into their limbs, whilst Aubrey stood stiffly, looking at him from behind shiny glasses.

"You still won't tell me?" She asked sadly.

He shook his great head. "No, hime." He handed over the satchel he had packed back at his cave. "Please keep this on you, though. But don't look inside until that sixth sense of yours tells you to. Ok?"

Aubrey stared at Yeoleum with her head cocked to one side, confused. "I – yes?" She answered.

Yeoleum sighed deeply, and brushed the tip of his snout to the centre of her forehead. "That is all I can ask, then. Fair winds and happy hunting, Ohime-sama." With that, the Dragon was gone, leaving behind three _very_ confused Mermaids.

"So…" Risley began, rubbing some feeling back into her legs. "Any luck?"

Aubrey clenched her fists. "Not really, no. I know now that they're all definitely alive, though, and that they left to protect us children… But I don't know the why!"

Arania began to say something soothing, only to break off in a fit of sneezes. At her weary groan at the end, Aubrey's face softened into a fond smile. "Let's find somewhere to make camp for the night then, ok?" She asked, helping them to their feet gently. "There are some caves at the bottom of the mountains in Bosco – one of Quartzerine and my old Nests is there, if we can find it. There's still daylight enough…"

**_ * . * . * _**

Gajeel Redfox had been on his own for two years now. Metallicana, his no-good father, had disappeared one day, and not returned. The same had happened to the other Dragons in their Nest, and even Quartzerine, that batty geezer who lived up on the mountain range, had been missing. Gajeel had eventually made his way to Fiore, trying to make a living for himself, but something always managed to go wrong. He was in his eleventh guild already –Titan Nose, it was called. He'd been about to go on a mission when he'd heard one of the older guildmembers blathering on, and dragons had come up.

"That Aubrey Nephrite, have you heard about her?" The new woman was saying to that arsehat, Bora. "Dragonet? They say she was raised by a dragon!"

"What, like our little ruffian?" Bora teased. "Hah! There's no such thing!"

"You can't deny how powerful that Dragon Slayer magic is, though!" The newbie continued. Susie? Sally? Sarah? Something like that, Gajeel wasn't sure. "In two years, she's already made herself the number one S-class mage in Mermaid Heel! She goes out on _heaps_ of missions! Uwah, I really admire her!"

Bora wiggled his eyebrows. "Yes, I admire her, too," He leered. Sandra ignored him.

"And they say she's looking for her precious little brother! Some fellow called Gajeel?" Gajeel stiffened at this point. He'd been on a mission when Sora joined, so she probably didn't recognise his name. "Apparently her father was a Jade Dragon called Quartzerine, too! She's been looking for him, I heard! Waah, I almost joined Mermaid Heel, but Salix is so far away, and I wanted to be close to my mother, she's very clumsy, you see, and –"

"How do I get to Salix?" Gajeel demanded.

Bora and Sasha blinked at him – he'd been almost civil!

"Well?" Gajeel demanded when they continued to catch flies. "How do I get there? I wanna meet that Dragonet!"

* * *

**Ok, this is the longest chapter so far with 1720 words. I hope you've enjoyed the chapter, please review any thoughts you have on this chapter!**


	8. Chapter 7, Mermaid's Tears

_Jade Force_

Chapter seven: Mermaid's Tears

**IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE THE DRAGONS HAVE BEEN ALL THIS TIME, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!  
****This is the chapter you've all been waiting for!  
****Also, sorry Guest-san, you're still logged out ^_^"**

**_ * . * . * _**

Being twelve and travelling on your own made things difficult. Having a guild mark helped, of course, and so did the piercings, but it still took Gajeel longer than he'd like to to reach the town of Salix. Sami had lent him a copy of _Weekly Sorcerer _with that article on Aubrey inside, so he'd read and analysed the poor thing to death ON HIS JOURNEY.

He now knew that Aubrey came from Bosco originally, that she's chosen her last name because it was a type of Jade, and that she'd joined Mermaid Heel because two of their members had rescued her from slavers at the border. He knew that she was fifteen, loved her guild very much, and had made S-class only a month after joining. She hated thunder-storms and trains, but she loved sun-showers and bitter food. Her glasses weren't entirely for show, as she had some difficulty reading small print and seeing small things, and the arm bands she were on her biceps were a gift from a water Dragon called Vestra (_Metalicana's mate? _). In regards to himself, she had said, "_I'm looking for my precious little brother, Gajeel. I promised Fjorda I'd look after him, see. I _was_ following him into Fiore from Bosco, but we were separated_."

Her entire reason for making a name for herself was so that he'd hear about her, and know where to look.

**_ * . * . * _**

Salix was a very pretty town, Gajeel had to admit. Wisteria trees lined the streets, with pussy willow shrubs at most street corners. Having arrived in the spring time, everything was blooming. On the hill behind the town was the guild, Mermaid Heel, with a dainty-looking wood behind it. A thirty minute walk was all it took to get from the train station to the guild.

The guild itself was rather like a ballet studio on the inside – a majority of the walls had floor-to-ceiling mirrors – and the paintings on the roof changed the further inside you ventured. The outside was mostly in dark blues and greens, a reflected sea scenery with mermaids in clams or doing each other's hair (_Gajeel struggled not to gag_), the middle ground seemed to be cats, fairiers, and other cutesy woodland creatures in greens and yellows, whilst the centre seemed to be angels and cherubs in soft pinks and white and gold.

Yup. Gag-worthy.

All the mages here were women, he'd heard, but they seemed especially unlively to him – all sitting around the centre-most bar, heads bowed.

"Oi!" Gajeel barked, grabbing their attention. "Name's Gajeel Redfox – I'm looking for the Dragonet?"

There was a choking noise, and some random biddy up the back burst into tears. Gajeel was confused – what was that about?

A chubby girl with thick black curls stood in front of him now, and her eyes were watery. "You're Metalicana's son?"

Gajeel recoiled, clenched his fists, then nodded. He was completely shocked when the rest of the women all burst into tears, and the chubby girl wrapped him in a hug.

"You finally come, and it's too late!" She wailed. Gajeel stiffened in her embrace. "Au-chan's gone!"

"What do ya mean, she's gone?!" Gajeel demanded angrily.

A taller blonde girl came over to him as well. "We were following a lead in Iceberg, to the north," She managed to say without sniffling too much. "We got as far as the base of the Boscan ranges on the return trip, and we'd managed to find one of her and Quartzerine's old Nests, and she left us, me and Ris-chan, behind with the fire whilst she gathered food, and then she screamed, and the world outside lit up, and she was gone!" The end was a wail, as the chubby and the blonde broke down into tears.

"How the hell d'ya lose someone like her?!" Gajeel snapped at them. "Didn't ya look for her?!"

"She was sucked into the sky!" The chubby snapped. "And the next mountain over, too, into this big vortex! There was nothing we could have done!"

"I tried to grab her with my web magic," the blonde sniffled. "But it was torn to pieces and sucked into the vortex, too!"

The next sentence was the one that sent Gajeel reeling.

"And she'd finally gotten a lead on the dragons!"

**_ * . * . * _**

_Saboady Archipelago, Grand Line, __Daikaizokujidai 12 _

Aubrey got up with a groan, looking around her in confusion. "Wha –?" She mumbled, hands searching for her glasses. There was something shining in her face. Having found her glasses and put them back on her nose, she responded with a soft, "Oh." It was a sword.

Looking up at the raggedy man in front of her, Aubrey asked cheerfully, "Can I help you?" Beneath her puffed sleeved coat, jade scales grew on her arms and back.

"Gimme yer money, brat!"

"Money?" Aubrey asked, cocking her head to the side. "I don't have any on me – I left it all with my teammates. I don't suppose you've seen them? One's tall and blonde, and the other is short with dark curls." The tip of the sword was placed under her chin. "Hmm?" Aubrey said curiously.

"Just gimme yer money!"

"As I said, I don't have any."

"What's in the bag?"

"Eh, this?" Aubrey hadn't noticed that she still had the shoulderbag Yeoleum had packed earlier. "It's just got books in it."

"Then gimme that neckalace! That'll sell for something!"

The poor man never knew where the jade pillar that crashed into his jaw came from. Before losing consciousness, he glimpsed a red–eyed demon holding his sword beneath his chin. "_Never_ attempt to take this pendant away from me!"

Calming herself down with some difficulty, Aubrey took stock of her surroundings and promptly did a double take. Were those _bubbles_ rising from the ground?! Just where the hell was she?!

"That was well handled, young lady." An elderly man's voice came from one of the shadows between the rickety buildings. "Have you eaten a Devil Fruit, to be able to do such a thing?"

Instantly on the defensive, Aubrey narrowed her eyes at the man. "Thank you. I'm afraid I've never heard of a Devil Fruit before, though."

The man raised pale brows over round glasses. "Never heard of a Devil Fruit? You're a long way into the Grand Line for that!"

Aubrey's own brows narrowed. "Old man, do you have a map handy?" She asked instead.

"A map?" He cocked his head to the side, puzzled, scratching his neck through long white hair. "Not on me. But my comrade will, at her bar. It's some way from here, though. Would you be comfortable walking with a helpless old man for such a distance?"

Aubrey's frown turned into a scowl. "So long as the old man doesn't lie, we'll be fine. You are far from _helpless_, I imagine."

He blinked at her a couple of times before throwing his head back and laughing. "My, aren't you a perceptive one! Alright, no more lies. By the way, my name is Ray-san. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Aubrey shook his outstretched hand. "Aubrey, of Mermaid Heel. Please lead the way."

**_ * . * . * _**

_Grove 13, Saboady Archipelago_

"_Shakki's Rip-off Bar?_" Aubrey read incredulously. "Hey, Ray-san, what –!"

The door opened and a number of beaten and bloody-looking thugs were dragged out by a dark-haired woman and promptly kicked down the stairs that had led to the establishment.

"Shakki!" Ray-san exclaimed once she was finished. "How's the business going?"

"Oh, Ray-san! What, it's been five months? You're looking lively. My, who's your friend? She's cute."

Aubrey turned pink at that, stepping slightly away from the pair. "My name is Aubrey. Ray-san said that you had a map handy, Shakki-san?"

"Of course," The woman said after a moment. "Would you come in?"

Aubrey followed the two inside carefully, activating her sixth sense as she did so. It wouldn't hurt to be prepared.

"Here," Shakki said, offering a piece of paper. "This is a map of this archipelago."

"Thank you," Aubrey nodded quickly. "But I was actually hoping for a map of the world."

Shakki paused with her cigarette halfway to her mouth. "Of the world…? An accurate one doesn't exist."

"I beg your pardon?" Aubrey asked, shocked.

"There are too many islands for such a thing. I can draw you a rough map, if you like, or find accurate maps of the four Blues, but one for the Grand Line doesn't exist."

"A generalised one should be fine, thank you."

"Well, I'll just draw it for you, then." Shakki said calmly, flipping the map of Saboady over and picking up a pencil. "There are four seas known as the four Blues: North, South, East and West. These seas are divided by what we call the Red Line, a large red mountain range that stretches the world. There is also the Grand Line, which has the Calm Belt, a current-less, breathless stretch of ocean, on either side of it. The Grand Line itself is split in half by the Red Line, with the two halves having their own name: Paradise, and the New World."

Aubrey picked up the rough map, eyes flashing dangerously behind her glasses.

_Come to sea with me, Aubrey!_

_Eh? We're in a separate reality? What about Earthland!_

_Welcome to Edolas!_

"You have never heard of Earthland, have you?" Aubrey asked them quietly. "Or countries called Fiore, Bosco, Iceburg, Seven…. You don't have mage guilds here, either, do you?" One hand dropped down to touch her guild mark, her pride.

Shakki and Ray-san both exchanged looks at that.

"No." They answered.

"I thought as much," Aubrey whispered, as the tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "Do you mind if I borrow this? I … I need some air, to think."

Stepping out of the strange bar, Aubrey moved towards the back, looking at the mangrove tree closely. It would do. Gathering her magic, she ran straight for the tree and up, up, up, growing spikes of jade in the soles of her feet once she felt herself beginning to slip. Reaching the top of the tree, Aubrey could see as far as the horizon – blue waters as far, and further, than her eyes could see.

Opening her sense further, she concentrated on Gajeel's immediate future… He was in Mermaid Heel, with her friends. And he was crying.

Her little brother had finally found her, and she couldn't even touch him! She might never see him again! Or her friends, or her father…!

Sniffling and feeling like the time was right, Aubrey rifled through her bag and took out the book Yeoleum had given her, opening it to what _felt_ like just the right page.

"_There are six Dragon Kings left. Of fire, Igneel; of iron, Metalicana; of the shadows, Skiadrum; the Master Healer of the Skies, Grandeeney; the Priest of Light, Weislogia; and the Jade Seer, Quartzerine. Between them, it was agreed that the only way to take down Zeref was through END. But Quartzarine, who saw the Truth of the future, knows they have a very long time to wait – four hundred years from now, X791, to be exact. But to take down Zeref's Demons, they'll need help from mages, and the most reliable magic for this is Metsuryū Mahou. _

"_At that meeting it was decided that those six Kings would find a child to raise as their own prior to X777 – a magical year that could be the turning point against the Demons – and agreed to meet up again on that fateful day for one last battle. But, as Achnologia had taken half their souls, it must have been a horrible existence for my brethren. As the only Dragon who did not fight in that war, I am the only one left whole, for lack of a better word. And, to make sure that their future children would not share the same fate as the Dragon of the Apocalypse, who had once also been a Dragon Slayer, the Kings must have only one option left to them._

"_When they feel the time is right – using that magical year, X777 – they will hide what is left of their souls within the bodies of their children, creating antibodies that will prevent the Dragonification process…_"

Aubrey couldn't read anymore for her tears. She was far from home, without her friends and little brother, and now she had the answer that all of the young Dragon Slayers had been looking for.

And she couldn't tell a single one of them.

**_ * . * . * _**

**Daikaizokujidai 12 – the twelfth year in the Great Age of Pirates (because I couldn't find an actual date -_-") Romance Dawn is set in the 20****th**** year, and the New World is set in the 22****nd****.**


	9. Chapter 8, Make your Nest with Us

_Jade Force_

Chapter Eight: Make your Nest with Us

**After a year of doing tours, I've finally realised that, instead of napping during film parts of my tour, I can write bits of my fanfics! So for the last week I've taken a pen and scrap of paper in with me, and there's half a dozen for both this fic, **_**Eleutheromania **_**and a random plot bunny scattered all around my house, and Nico keeps stealing them to play with, so hopefully it's turned out ok! Please let me know!**

**_ * . * . * _**

Silvers Rayleigh had never met a girl quite like Aubrey. Even though she was still in her midteens, she had an aura of command and professionalism, and that attack of hers… If pressed (which Shakki did), he would have said that she'd turned her leg into a pillar of green crystals! And yet she didn't know about the Grand Line, or Devil Fruits, or indeed anything regarding their world. Those countries she had listed… Rayleigh had never heard of them. And let's not start on the "mage guild" thing, or that strange not-quite tattoo on Aubrey's gut.

There was one more thing, as well.

"How did she get up _there_!?" Rayleigh exclaimed as he and Shakki looked up, up, _up_ to the top of the Mangrove tree, where his Haki had located the strange girl. He blinked in surprise when a drop of moisture landed squarely between his eyes.

"Hey, Shakki?" He asked quietly. She removed her cigarette and blew a puff of smoke in acknowledgement. "Do you need another hand around the bar? Someone to do odd jobs for you?"

"My, my, Ray-san!" Shakki teased. "Is this your old age showing?"

Rayleigh gave a big belly laugh, before calling up the trunk, "Aubrey-chan! Please come down! We'd like to talk to you!"

With her dragon-like hearing, it was easy enough for Aubrey to hear the shout. Drying the last of her tears, she created wings with her magic and free fell back to the ground, using her wings to control her decent and pull up in front of the former pirates.

She gave them her most professional 'S-Class Wizard' face. "Yes?"

Rayleigh looked delighted; Shakki, still calm and collected, asked, "Would you like to work at my bar? It's not much, but you'd have a roof over your head, free food and new clothes as necessary. We'll even teach you about this world of ours."

Aubrey's face lit up. "Yes! Please, Shakki-san, thank you very much! I promise I'll work really hard! And you won't have to worry about liars or cheaters in your bar, either, I'll make sure of it!"

The following months went as promised. Aubrey built herself a nest at the top of the Mangrove, and she did all of Shakki's odd jobs from laundry to groceries to throwing out unsavoury customers – after Shakki had finished extorting money from them, of course. Very quickly, Aubrey adjusted to her new world, reading and listening to stories from both Ray-san and Shakki until it seemed like she'd grown up on Saboady rather than a Boscan Mountain range.

She missed her guild mates and little brother terribly, though. It wasn't uncommon for her to use her sixth sense to look slightly into their future to see what they were doing: Mermaid Heel was as prosperous as it had been before she joined. Gajeel-kun, though, had been kicked out of Titan Nose for fighting and property damage; after time on the streets once again, he was taken in by the guild master of Phantom Lord – Aubrey had never been Jose Porla's biggest fan, but he was doing a kindness to her brother, so she let it slide.

It wasn't as if she could do anything about it, anyway.

She did, however, manage to make something of a name for herself on the Archipelago, using her old epithet of Dragonet. There were many human shoppess in the Lawless Districts – please note the past tense. Once Aubrey had found out about the slavery on this island, she'd gone to great pains to get rid of the shoppess. If there was one thing Dragon Slayer Magic was good for, it was destruction, after all.

**_ * . * . * _**

Shakki had left Aubrey to man Rip-Offs for a couple of hours while she was out, and Aubrey had to admit that her mind wasn't in the bar. She's been reading through the books that Yeoleum had given her months ago, and she _did not_ like what it had to say in regards to the Dragon War four hundred year ago, or the predictions regarding Zeref and his Demons. END, in particular, she was none too pleased about…

The door opened.

Aubrey snapped back to the present, closing her book and putting it back in the satchel she kept on her person at all times.

"Welcome to Shakki's Rip-Off Ba – you!" She looked up from her satchel and gasped, starring. "You're him, the scarred man with the straw hat!"

"Eh? You know me?" The redheaded man asked.

Aubrey shook her head quickly. "We've never met, but I've seen your face in my dreams for nearly three years now."

"How could you see that?" A dark haired man with a smoking pipe asked. Aubrey eyed him wearily – this man was particularly dangerous.

"I have a sixth sense," She said calmly, tucking a stray strand of white hair behind her ear. "Name's Aubrey, anyway. What can I get for you?"

"We're looking for Ray-san," The darkhaired man said, talking over Redhair.

Aubrey was already shaking her head. "Sorry, but Ray-san hasn't been back in almost four months. You're welcome to wait, in case today is the one he returns, but you might be awhile. Shakki-san should be back soon, however."

"Thanks for that," Redhair said. "Say, where are you from? I haven't seen you before."

"Me?" Behind the counter, Aubrey's hand strayed to her guild mark. "A little town called Salix. You wouldn't have heard of it."

"What's the island called? We're pretty well-travelled."

Aubrey eyed the darkhaired man again. "It's a country called Fiore. As I said, you wouldn't have heard of it." Reaching for a notepad, she decided to change the topic. "I can take a message for Ray-san, if you like? You seem like you don't want to be on this archipelago for long."

"Is that your sixth sense talking?" An almost-grotesquely large man asked around a leg of meat.

"No," Aubrey replied, sunlight flashing off her glasses. "It's called observation. You're all tapping your feet and making shifty movements, and yet you have no intention of trying anything in this bar. So you want to leave." Her eyebrows narrowed. "If you're looking for them, then you must be pirates, also. The Marines are in a huff on these islands because the Dragonet has been destroying the human shoppes on them. Trigger-happy Marines make for itchy-footed pirates."

"Ooh, amazing!" Redhair exclaimed. "Hey, would you –"

"I don't want to come to sea with you!" Aubrey snapped suddenly. She turned her head away, then. "I'm sorry. I get motion sickness, and besides, I owe Ray-san and Shakki-san. They're my nestmates now, and I want to stay with them."

Redhair stared at her, before smiling softly. "That's ok, then. Just let Ray-san know I stopped by, please? If he asks, I've gone to East Blue, for old time's sake." His smile turned wistful.

Aubrey nodded. "I'll let him know."

**_ * . * . * _**

It was just as Shakki-san returned that Aubrey realised she'd forgotten to ask for Redhair's name (although, Ray-san should be able to guess his identity from the description alone). Giving Shakki the outlines, Aubrey ran after the remains of their scent, ears and senses strained to see what she could _see_.

She should have paid more attention to her surroundings.

"Ooh, who are you~?" The man's way of talking was very drawn out and drawling. "Don't _you_ look familiar!"

Aubrey narrowed her eyes at the weirdo in a yellow suit, hackles raised. He was _strong_. "You are mistaken. We've never met."

"That's right~!" His way of talking was starting to annoy her. "Eh~ but, I've seen you before! You're the one called Dragonet, aren't you?"

Aubrey raised her eyebrows at him, senses on high alert. _Danger, danger, __**danger**_! "I don't look anything like that person – they are covered in scales, and I am not. If you'll excuse me, I'm in a hurry."

He made to grab her shoulder, and Aubrey slapped it away, glaring furiously from behind her glasses. "If you'll _excuse me_," She hissed. "I'm in a hurry!"

"That last building the Dragonet destroyed," He drawled. "It still had a Tenryubito inside, did you know?"

"I hadn't heard that." Aubrey replied coolly, chest tightening. _Danger, danger, danger!_

"As a resident on Saboady, then you must know the rule~! If anything happens to one of them, then an Admiral will be called down to deal with the offender~!" The lazy smile dropped off of his face, his eyes quite dark behind his amber-tinted sunglasses, his arm raised with his pointer finger extended. "That would be _me_."

If it weren't for her sixth sense, Aubrey would be very, very dead.

Deciding that there was no reasoning with this strange Admiral, Aubrey allowed jade scales to cover her body quickly. If anything, the facets should help deflect _some_ of those light-based attacks.

"You're the one they call Kizaru, then?" Aubrey asked quietly.

"I have been called that," He replied, voice more sarcastic than drawling now. "My name, however, is Borsalino. And you?"

Removing her glasses and placing them inside her satchel, which she encased in dense jade crystals, Aubrey answered proudly. "I'm the Dragonet – and I'm a Mermaid Heel mage!" She closed her eyes, opened her senses as wide as they could go, and _roared._

"_Hisuiryū no Hokou_!"


	10. Chapter 9, Dragon Force

_Jade Force_

Chapter Nine: Dragon Force

**I couldn't just leave you with that cliffie of a fight scene for another week XD It demanded to be written! Two updates in one day isn't too shabby, I think ^_^**

**Please review**

**_ * . * . * _**

"Ooh, what a scary power you have there~!" Kizaru exclaimed, looking at the damage her breath attack had caused to the buildings behind him. "What kind of Devil Fruit did you eat?"

Aubrey sneered, backing off a few paces, eyes shut tight in concentration. "It's Magic, not a Devil Fruit." She whispered around the voices that were plaguing her senses. "Metsuryū no Mahou."

_Come to sea with me!_

_I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi! I'm a Rubber –_

_I'm a Flame Man, I ate the Mera Mera –_

_Bara Bara – !_

_Mero Mero –!_

_Gurahahahaha!_

"Ooh~, doesn't that sound fancy!" He was mocking her now. "I didn't think magic was real~."

Aubrey tried a smirk. "Really? Well, I'll have to change your mind, then."

Using speed she'd picked up from a childhood of fighting Vulcans, Aubrey appeared behind him and launched out a powerful kicked, her leg a pillar of condensed jade. To her surprise, he blocked the attack almost contemptuously, firing another ray of light at her. Jade scales lit up and deflected most of the power from the attack, but gradually, Aubrey was forced onto the defensive. Deciding that hand-to-hand was _not_ the way to win this fight, Aubrey summoned her Nanarenbu swords, and attempted to use the attack on Borsalino.

"Hisuiryū no Nanarenbu!"

"Hisuiryū no Hokou!"

"Hisuiryū no Yokugeki!"

"Hisuiryū no Jaberin"

"Hisuiryū no Kotai ken!"

She was severely outclassed – she hadn't been this overwhelmed since she last fought with her father, and demanded he go all out on her. Not a single attack seemed to affect him, although one of the Javelins had managed to graze his cheek, drawing blood.

Beaten and bloody, Aubrey finally collapsed to the ground, her scales gone, and with the full understanding that the Admiral had been playing with her. She had attempted to use both of her Secret Arts, but they took time that she couldn't spare, and had resulted in her being kicked several metres away and through a few buildings.

"Mmmm, you certainly put up a fight, for someone without a bounty!" He drawled, holding his glowing finger above her head.

The future showed two images to her – Natsu-kun, a few years older than she herself was, wrapped in both flames and lighting, and Gajeel-kun, older again, iron scales with heavy shadows rippling. If such a thing were possible for them…

_Dragon's have strong lungs!_ Quartzerine whispered in her memory. _We need to, to breath out such unconventional elements!_

**_ * . * . * _**

To Borsalino's surprise, the Dragonet suddenly opened her green eyes, dark face full of determination.

"I'm a Mermaid Heel Madoushi, of Salix," She hissed at him, eyes slightly out of focus. "Even if you're frightening, even if you beat me, I'll never run away! The pride of the guild rests in this mark of mine!"

Borsalino stared at her for a few seconds longer, before snorting, gathering more light into his hand, and then _releasing_ a constant stream of it, a blast rather than his normal laser.

When the light and dust cleared, though, it showed him Aubrey, still very much alive and intact, her cheeks puffed out and head turned away.

"White Jade Dragon Mode! Shiratamaryū no Hokou!" White light danced amongst the jade shards that Aubrey roared at him, and this time, _she blasted him away_.

The smile she offered him was almost feral. "It's time I showed you a little trick. This magic of mine, Dragon Slayer Magic… It's called _Lost Magic_, where I'm from." That strange smile grew. "Lost to the ages, _very_ few people know how to use it… It's the power of a dragon, inside of a human." A faint green light began to glow around her body. "And there's nothing more powerful in the world… than…

"_Dragon Force_!"

Shocked, Borsalino watched as raised ridged scales grew around her eyes, claws extended from her fingers, and a dragon-like tail whipped backwards and forwards beneath her coat. White hair was swept up and back, extended canines flashed in another one of those smiles, before suddenly she was gone from his vision, only to reappear behind him, her tail lashing around and crashing into his head with enough force to send _him_ flying. He didn't go far – she appeared again, sending him back in the other direction with another roar, and then she was above him, and suddenly his face was in the ground, her leg a pillar of jade that had sent him there.

"Let me show you the power the power of the all-woman's guild!"

The ground beneath them lit up with that white and green light, a circle with a dragon's head in the centre, surrounded by strange patterns.

"Metsuryū Ougi! Nekoyanagi no …"

Clusters of green-white lights floated around them, and Borsalino was surprised at how … fluffy, and cute, they looked…

"Mame denkyū!"

**_ * . * . * _**

The Redhaired Pirates stared, open mouthed. This girl had managed to take out an Admiral – on her own!

"O-oi, everyone…" Shanks finally managed to whisper. "What do you think?"

"It's not like you to ask first," Ben Beckman mumbled back, eyes still wide, latched onto the girl who'd just feinted.

"She's not like a normal recruit."

"True…"

"They'll kill her anyway," Yasopp managed to squeak, bug-eyed. "She'd be safer with us, even in the New World."

"She's been living with Shakki-san and Rayleigh-san for a couple of months, too." Lucky Roux added weakly, his meat hanging forgotten, his smile slightly dimmer than normal. "She'd definitely bring something to the crew! That sixth sense of hers seemed pretty cool!"

"Although, I'm pretty sure she said she didn't want to come to sea," Beckman added as an aside at his captain, having regained some of his composure.

Shanks laughed. "Better at sea than dead, Benny! Alright, men, let's set sail!"

**_ * . * . * _**

**Translations:**

**Hisuiryū no – Jade Dragon's**

**Hokou – roar**

**Nanarenbu – seven slice dance**

**Yokugeki – wing slash**

**Jaberin – Javelin**

**Kotai ken – solid fist**

**Shiratamaryū no – White Jade Dragon's**

**Nekoyanagi no Mame denkyū – Pussy willow fairy lights**

**_ * . * . * _**

Animeluver2818** and **AlexandriaAckerman**, I hope the fight scene met your expectations! ^_^**


	11. Chapter 10, Oh look, there's my dinner!

_Jade Force_

Chapter Ten: Oh look, there's my dinner!

**Just giving everyone a heads up that at the end of this month (May) and start of next, I mightn't be able to update for a while. Reasoning? I'll be digging for dinosaurs. Yes, you read that right! That will be happening on my days off for three weeks, although I will try my best to sneak in an update or two if I can!**

Aubrey was about to die. Her stomach was revolting! Her brain was trying to stab its way out of her head, and her skin was slick with sweat. Had she caught some kind of plague? Ray-san said that there were some _weird_ sicknesses on the Grand Line. Or maybe she'd taken a more severe injury in her battle with Borsalino? Head wounds had strong reactions on the body, right?

"Oi, Yassop, where's that bucket? I think she's gonna hurl!"

… Wait a minute…

Cracking one eye open blearily, she managed to get a glimpse of wooden walls with dancing water reflections, and a teenaged boy with blonde hair. Salt was heavy in the air and on her skin, and everything _moved_.

Aubrey moaned.

"Oi, she's waking up!"

"Thrice-cursed Akagami…" She choked, bile in her throat.

"Eh? Did you say something?" The blonde asked.

"Get me off~" Aubrey groaned. "Are you try – *hurk!* –ing to kill me?!"

"Eh?" The blonde asked in surprise. "No, we rescued you from the Marines!"

She glared at him balefully. "I get motion sick!" She managed to get out in a rush before the next wave of illness. That bucket was sounding pretty good round about now! "Get me off of… *urgh* off of here!"

The blonde flinched. "We, um… _might_ not be able to do that for a while… We're kind of at sea at the moment?"

It only took another, in Aubrey's opinion, large wave for her to make up her mind.

"I'll swim behind you. Just *gag* just get me off!"

Another five minutes saw her getting her wish as, jacket, bag and all, Aubrey dived over the side of their ship and into the ocean, jade scales forming on both her body and encasing her satchel during her freefall overboard.

"Waah, Aubrey-chan!" Redhair's voice called out to her when she surfaced. "Man overboard! I mean, woman!" He made to cast his coat off and jump in after her, but Aubrey blasted a pillar of jade at his nose, treading water angrily.

"You dumb idiot!" She yelled up at him. "Didn't I say I didn't want to go to sea with you?! Didn't I say I get severe motion sickness?! And what has you talking so familiarly with me, anyway?"

Holding his red face (it matched his hair beautifully, Aubrey thought vindictively), and looking completely shocked, Redhair spluttered back before yelling, "You would be dead if we'd left you behind!"

"Like hell!" Aubrey yelled back furiously. "I'm the Jade Dragon Slayer, idiot! In strength and sturdiness, a Jade Dragon's scales are only topped by an Iron Dragon! I'd have been fine!"

The dangerous, darkhaired man was watching impassively, but even he decided to add his two cents after a puff from his pipe. "You passed out after taking out that Admiral. Whatever form you had taken on disappeared once you'd lost consciousness."

Aubrey was quiet for a moment, thinking his word over.

"Well, that makes sense. I burnt through a _large_ amount of magical power in that fight. I went all out…" She sighed then, but a ripple in the currents beneath her caught her attention. Narrowing her eyes and creating a thin jade film over them, similar to that of a crocodile, Aubrey ducked under the surface for a better look.

It was a great big sea serpent with a lion's mane! It had to be at least a hundred metres in length!

Aubrey's eyes widened, and without a second thought, she _roared_, the force blowing her out of the water. Creating wings, she glided back to the ship's deck, gasping for breath.

"The hell was that?!" She exclaimed, her magic not quite as replenished as she thought it had been. Then motion of the ship caught up to her, and immediately Aubrey collapsed, groaning.

"Boss! Look!" Someone shouted. "She just took out a Sea King! All on her own!"

The large man, meat still to hand, laughed. "You okay with Sea King Stew for dinner, Boss?"

_Sea King_… Ray-san had mentioned something about them…? Once she got off of this floating deathtrap, Aubrey was sure she'd remember! However, the mention of food seemed to be the last straw for her stomach.

…

"_EW!_"

**Sorry this is short this week – I only had one day off, and I've spent it trying to teach my seven and ten year old brothers (they do distance education and my parents were busy out of town, so they were dropped at my place… It was 'fun').  
****Hopefully next week I'll be able to claim back my missed RDO and will have three days to write! But we'll see -_-"  
****Reviews are welcomed!**


	12. Chapter 11, Aiyi

_Jade Force_

Chapter Eleven: Aiyi

***dies* The dig was pretty successful, but man have I been flat-out! Did you know that fulltime employment, a weekend job, volunteering in your community, and university all at the same time was a bad idea? **

Thankfully, it only took another two days after Aubrey first awoke for their ship to dock at the next island. With her nose, it was only a matter of minutes before she had sussed out the closest foodhouse, and begged a meal, claiming that her 'captain' would settle the tab. As far as Aubrey was concerned, it was the least he could do! Unfortunately for him, by the time he arrived, she had already devoured most of the menu. In her defence, of course, Aubrey had eaten precious little more than seaweed, fish she had had the crew cook and then toss back to her, as well as berries that passing birds had dropped for her – after some _encouragement_, of course.

"Aubrey-chan!" Redhair exclaimed when he finally found his new magician – I mean addition! "What's with running off like that?! We were worried sick!"

Aubrey glared at him through her glasses, looking up from the book she'd started to read once she'd gone from "starving" to plain "hungry".

"I haven't eaten properly in almost a week," she scowled. "I haven't gone that long without since I was _very_ small, and I can't say that it agreed with me, especially with swimming for the last two days straight. You've been well fed and rested, so you can hardly complain."

"If you'd come aboard, Roux would have fed you," Redhair moped; Aubrey gave him her best glare.

"I told you, you dope, _I get severe motion sickness_, and in the case of a fight, I'd rather be tired than incapacitated!"

"Well, then let me pay for your meal!

"A-ano, your name is already on the tab, Akagami-san," The waitress stuttered. "This is the current bill."

His eyes widened in absolute horror. "How the hell did you spend this much already, Aubrey-chan?!" He shouted.

She grinned wickedly in response. "I'm used to eating a lot to replenish my magic. Add on the last two days, and really you should be asking why haven't I eaten more?" Redhair started to sob comically to the Dark Haired man with a pipe, and Aubrey went back to Yeoleum's book. She was gradually relearning Draconian, her father's language – which is half of the reason why she'd taken seven months to read the small journal. The other half was that she was afraid of what she'd discover…

Finding a strange character in the middle of her current page, Aubrey paused with her next mouthful only halfway to her mouth. It didn't _look_ Draconian… and Yeoleum's epitaph was "the Scholar", so maybe… But then what was it doing in the middle of a page on the Dragon War? To Aubrey, it seemed as though the glyph was pulsating, the dark blue ink glowing brighter and brighter to her eyes.

"Aubrey-chan? Are you even listening?" Redhair asked. It was enough to brake whatever spell she'd been under. With a start she drew back, and blinked.

"Beg pardon?" She asked distractedly in Boscan. Had they been talking to her? …. Wait, she wasn't in Ishgar anymore! "Sorry, what?" She recovered, using the common tongue.

The Darkhaired man narrowed his brows. "What's in that book?"

Aubrey immediately scowled and held the journal close to her chest. "Clues about my father," she answered sharply. "He's missing."

Immediately the men all looked apologetic.

"We'll help you find him!" Redhair volunteered.

Aubrey snorted derisively – she knew exactly where her father, where all of their Dragon parents, were. Calling upon her power, she crafted a jade figurine of her father on the tabletop, a magic circle lighting up pale green and white seconds prior to its creation. "Quartzerine is larger than your ship, though he is much thinner, and more serpentine than the other Dragons. His claws are delicate in comparison, the better to pick up rune stones and weave soul string and cast bone fortunes. His wings are as batlike as the others, only that his are paler on the underside, and as such he is harder to spot in the skies."

There was a brief moment of silence before Redhair and his blonde Sniper shattered it with their scream – sorry, "manly yells", as they would later call it.

"_EH?! A DRAGON?!_"

Aubrey huffed, giving them another mulish look. "Why does everyone have that reaction? I'm not the only Dragon Slayer, and I'm not the only orphan who doesn't look like their adoptive parents!" Though she was loathe to admit it, it had always hurt that people said she couldn't belong to her father because of how little they resembled each other. So what if there was no blood between them?! She didn't love him any less for it!

"If your father is a dragon, then why are you a Dragon Slayer?" The Darkhaired man asked abruptly. Aubrey looked at him as though he were an idiot.

"That's my magic. Metsuryū no Mahou. Only Dragon magic can harm a Dragon, and it was originally used during the Dragon War in the X300s to turn the tide in the human's favour."

"So your father taught you how to kill him." He replied bluntly.

If Aubrey were a dog, her hackles would have raised at the comment, though as it was, she managed a very threatening growl. "My father taught me the magic of his people," She snapped back. "Slayer magic is for protecting the people dearest to you, not patricide!"

Standing abruptly, she turned and bowed to the waitress, saying in a clipped tone, "Thank you for the meal. They'll cover the tab."

With that, Aubrey stalked out of the foodhouse with her head and shoulders held proudly.

"Good going, Benny!" Redhair's voice drifted to her sharp ears. "You pissed her off again!"

'Benny''s reply was dry. "Not that she wasn't mad to begin with, of course."

Redhair spluttered. "Well, yes, but –"

"Shanks, even if it was for her own benefit, she's still mad about joining the crew. She's miserable aboard ship, and she just ends up wasting her energy swimming behind us. You should have spoken with Rayleigh-san before we left Saboady"

"He's right, as usual." The Sniper added. "She doesn't know you, like we all did, Senchou. Plus, she's a woman! I know Banchina would put up a hell of a fight, in Aubrey's place. Even if sailing with us gets her home and even helps her find her father, she might not trust us, since we didn't start on the right foot."

Sounding petulant (and as if he were finishing up what was left of her steak), Shanks added his rebuttal. "We show her the Wanted Poster that came out the day after we left Saboady. For a first bounty, it's incredible."

There was a sigh from the Darkhaired man. "'s not as if we can do anything about it now anyway, the damage is done. Even if we show her that, and explain the situation again, that's hardly going to make her feel any better."

Shanks' response was gruff. "What do you suggest we do, then? Take her back to Saboady, where she's a wanted criminal? Leave her on this island, until someone blabs to the Marines? She doesn't exactly have a lot of options, here! She's safest with us!" In a mumble that Aubrey almost missed, he added, "It'd be nice if she liked us, though."

Clenched fists shaking, Aubrey decided to use her ears for something else. If she didn't find something to hit soon, she felt like she might explode! _This_ is why she'd joined an all-woman's guild!

**_ * . * . * _**

Hours later, and Aubrey felt that she could safely say that the rogues of the island were pathetic in comparison to those of the Lawless District on Saboady. Using her senses, she had sought each and every one of them out, and promptly started a fist fight. The local law enforcers had been too terrified to stop her – and besides, she was kinda doing them a favour. Shanks managed to find her just as she finished up her last 'bout' with a firm kick to the sternum, sending the would-be thug into a house.

"Aubrey-chan, is this where you've been this whole time?"

"I needed _something_ to do. How long will we be on this island for?"

"It will take five days for the log to set." He suddenly looked _very_ awkward. "Aubrey-chan, we'll be staying on the ship, but if you want a room in the hotel here, I'll pa –"

"No thanks." Aubrey interrupted. "I'll sleep in the forest. You can cover my food bill, though."

Shanks looked anxious at that. "Will you, uh, be eating as much as before?"

Aubrey snorted, before giving in to laughter at the look on his face. "Of course not! Today I was starving, that's not how much I normally eat!"

Shanks sighed in relief, before giving her a bright smile. "In that case, then please eat with all of us! Roux can cook something good for you, and we can all share a meal together!"

A memory of Risley on Aubrey's day at the guild sprung into her mind, at that.

_This guild is like a family for many of us. Families eat together so that they can share their feelings and memories with each other. In this guild, we always eat at least lunch with everyone, so that we can laugh and cry and remember, altogether!_

With thinned lips, Aubrey inclined her head, deep in thought. Even though she didn't like the circumstances that had brought them together, she had known for some time now that this man would influence her future – really, she shouldn't have been surprised to wake up on his ship, since for three years he'd asked her to come to sea with him.

"Sure… I'll eat with everyone…" She finally whispered.

Shanks sighed in relief. "Ah, that's great to hear! Oh, before we head back, this is your wanted posted. It came out the day after we left Saboady, but we didn't know how to tell y – "

"_AIYI?!_" She screeched, interrupting him.

The portrait showed her in full Dragon Force, eyes glowing an eerie white, set in a face lined with jade scales, white hair blown upwards, teeth bared in a snarl. The caption read as follows:

_**Aubrey the Dragonet**_

_**Wanted for destruction of property, attacking a Tenryuubito and an Admiral, and for lawful misconduct.**_

_**215, 000, 000 Belli Reward**_


	13. Chapter 12, Klabautermann

_Jade Force_

Chapter Twelve: Klabautermann

**Guess who's been rewatching the GMG and now **_**really**_** wants to hurry up and write those scenes! ^_^"**

Aubrey sat awkwardly next to Shanks, accepting the food that the large man, Roux, had prepared. Just like her first day in the guild, everyone was a whirl of faces and smells and personalities and futures – only, there were a few more pirates than there had been mages. Amongst the smells of food, alcohol and unwashed bodies, she could smell excitement coming off of a majority of the crew, although some, like the Darkhaired one, the first mate Ben Beckman, smelt a little bit of distrust and suspicion.

If she squinted, it kind of reminded Aubrey of the first time Quartzerine introduced her to Metalicana's Nest. On the one hand, they had been excited to meet his daughter, but on the other hand, Aubrey was human, and even four hundred years after the war, many were still distrustful of humans. At that time, the distrustful Dragons had all sniffed at Aubrey's forehead, and behind her ears – however, as Risley and Arania had made it very clear, humans were different to Dragons, and probably wouldn't want to sniff her.

Throughout the meal, Aubrey listened to the men laugh, kanpai and tell outrageous stories, eating her food as politely as she could.

"Ne, Aubrey-chan!" Someone at the back yelled. "Tell us about yourself!"

"Yeah yeah!" Another added. "How'd you get your Devil Fruit?"

"Idiot, she spent the last two days swimming, how the hell does she have a Devil Fruit?"

Tucking a lock of white hair behind one ear, she shook her head. "It's magic," she called out over the sudden scuffle, watching curiously as the men quieted. "I practice Dragon Slayer Magjc – I'm the Jade Dragon Slayer. I was raised by a dragon, my father, the Jade King, Quartzerine. I have a little brother figure, Gajeel, who I worry about all the time, although we've been … separated. I belonged to a woman-only mage guild called Mermaid Heel, where I was one of the S-class mages, but I … something happened, and suddenly I was on Saboady. Ray-san and Shakki-san have been looking after me since then."

"No, no, no!" Somebody else called. "That's just facts! Tell us about you! What you like, what you don't like – that sort of a thing!"

"Oh, um," Aubrey tailed off, collected her thoughts, and then projected to the gathered pirates. "I hate transportation of any sort, but especially trains. I don't like thunderstorms at all, either, or liars. I like sun showers though, and bitter food, and Dragons, and my clutchmates – that is, the other Dragon Slayers, although I've only been able to meet with Natsu-kun since… since our parents all disappeared."

"_EH?! Aubrey-chan's family is missing?!_" The crew all shouted.

Rubbing her ears and glaring, Aubrey snipped back, "Dragons and Dragon Slayers have really sensitive ears, you know!" There were mumbled apologies.

"We'll keep an eye out for them on our travels!" Shanks called out then, standing, and holding up the statuette Aubrey had created of Quartzerine earlier that day. "This is Aubrey-chan's Dad – can't be too hard to spot, right, men?" They all roared with laughter then.

Aubrey didn't bother to tell them that she knew where her father was – she was enjoyinbg the warm feeling bubbling in her chest at the pirates' support.

"Is the reason you hate transportation so much because of your motion sickness?" The blonde doctor asked her.

Aubrey nodded back. "Some days it gets so bad that even _looking_ at a car or a train makes me want to spew. I avoided Port Hargeon like the plague, also – just watching boats bob up and down ~ *hurgh*"

"JUST FROM TALKING ABOUT IT?!" The doctor shouted back as Aubrey turned green (and not because of her magic).

Shuddering, Aubrey shook her head. "Really, I don't know how you expect me to travel with you. I can only swim for so long before I'd use up all my magic, and the motion sickness isn't something I'd willingly put up with; the longer I'm sick for, the longer it takes to recover. The last mission I took with my guild mates, we had to travel across two country borders – we barely made it from Fiore to Bosco before I couldn't take any more. It took me almost a full _day_ to recover from a fourteen-hour train trip, so we walked the rest of the way from Bosco to Iceberg." Smiling softly, she whispered, "It's a good thing Yeoleum gave us a lift back to Bosco… Ris-chan and Ara-chan didn't have too much further to go to get back to the guild…"

"Someone gave you a lift?" The doctor interrupted quickly

Aubrey nodded. "Yeoleum, a Fire Dragon." Using her magic, she created a statuette of him, as well.

"And you didn't get sick?"

Aubrey pulled a face at him. "Of course not – Yeoleum isn't transportation. He's family - ish."

Shanks snapped his fingers then, gaining everyone's attention. "That's it! That's how you'll be able to travel with us!"

"Oh come on, don't tell me you believe that old myth," Ben Beckman scolded around his pipe.

"My old captain believed in them too," Shanks grumbled back, blowing a raspberry at his firstmate.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Aubrey interjected.

"Klabautermann," Shanks said as though it should be obvious.

"Bless you?"

"Aubrey-chan!" Shanks moaned. "You're so mean! A Klabautermann is a sprite or fairy that is the soul of a beloved ship. Nobody ever sees them though, not unless the ship is doomed or dying." He gestured to the vessel they could just make out at the docks. "So if you like, to pirates, our ships are just as much our nakama as the people it carries."

"So don't think of our ship as transportation," The doctor added. "Think of it as being supported and looked after by your comrade!"

Aubrey's eyes were shining. "Yes! If it's my friend carrying me, I don't have to worry!" She stood abruptly. "Let's go! I want to meet my new nakama!"

_Half an hour later_

"_*bleugh!*_"

Sweatdropping, the Redhaired Pirates agreed that, you know, it was a work in progress… or something…

**So, what do you all think? I'm still playing around with this idea, so I'm not sure yet if it would work… Any thoughts? My two go-to ideaboards, **Kopaka777** and **Shibo26**, are either solely in the Fairy Tail or One Piece fandoms, respectively, so I've sort of tried to just sound the idea out between the two of them… Help?  
****Once again though, thank you for your support of this fic!**


	14. Chapter 13, Jose is a Manipulative Dick

_Jade Force_

Chapter Thirteen: Jose is a Manipulative Dick

**I've decided that **_Fight Back_**, the sixteenth Fairy Tail opening theme song, is my favourite, and so have been listening to it almost non-stop as I wrote this XD**

"Aubrey, what are you doing?" Beckman asked, exasperated.

"Reading," She whimpered, one hand over her mouth.

"That's not what it looks like from here." He sweatdropped. Sitting on the peer beside their ship, a sickly-looking Aubrey was attempting to read that strange book of hers.

"Then I'm making a new friend," the sixteen-year-old managed to say, somewhat sharply.

"You're sitting on the peer next to our ship, _just_ to get over your motion sickness?"

"It's worth a shot!" Aubrey snapped. "I've had Shanks in my head telling me to go to sea with him for nearly three years now, but I can't safely do that until I'm friends with this ship's Klabautermann, and can be supported by my nakama without… without…" Shoving her book into her satchel hastily, Aubrey turned and hung over the edge of the peer, feeding the fishes.

Even though her hair barely touched her shoulders, Beckman still came and pulled it out of her face for her.

"Why don't you come back to shore," He told her softly. "Yasopp wants to test you in a fight,"

Aubrey shook her head stubbornly. "I need to overcome this!" She gasped. "Every day, until the log sets, I am going to sit here, and I'm going to become friends with this ship!"

"I thought you didn't want to be a pirate?"

Aubrey shrugged her shoulders and looked away awkwardly. "It doesn't sit right, that's true – I dislike the idea of needless killing –"

"We don't do that."

"Or unnecessary thefts –"

"Or that."

"Or excessive drinking –"

"Oi,"

"But I do like the idea of adventures, and growing stronger. I also can't stand slavery, and the fact that I had a fight over that with an _admiral_, the second-highest force in the militia, over that very thing means that I shouldn't be too trusting of this government. And pirates are the ones who oppose this, aren't they?"

Beckman watched her for a minute, before telling her softly, "There are still some pirates who support slavery – it isn't uncommon for them to go the auction houses on Saboady to find new crewmates, and there are those who sell their fallen enemies for extra belli."

Aubrey pulled a disgusted face, and spat into the ocean. "I had no plans of glorying piracy, but you've made your point. I was just saying that this crew is a better option than the law."

Beckman wrinkled his nose, and reached for his pipe. "That's a low blow."

She shrugged, and pulled out that strange journal of hers, beginning to read slowly again.

Lying back against the mooring post and pretending so snooze around his pipe, Beckman watched her with half-lidded eyes. This girl was something of a mystery, all right! But one he was determined to figure out – as first mate, he was the one who had to watch the Captain's back, after all.

**_ * . * . * _**

Gajeel had to say, out of all of the guilds he'd joined over the last two years, Phantom Lord seemed to agree with him the most. Master Jose was a bit of a dick, sure, but he didn't scoff when Gajeel said he used Dragon Slayer Magic. Instead he just asked for a demonstration, and said that he was good for a kid, but as a member of Fiore's strongest guild, he'd have to improve. He also didn't mind too much that Gajeel would occasionally disappear for a while, after a rumour about a Dragon or Dragonet popped up. Or at least, he hadn't.

"Gajeel-kun," Jose called across the guildhall, just as the boy was depositing the flier and guild's half of his earnings. Taking down a bunch of bandits? Childs play. "I want a word."

Hackles half-raised, Gajeel followed the Master back up to his office.

"Gajeel, you finish your jobs in record time, despite your age," Jose began, having sat himself in his throne-like chair. "And yet, you take so long to get back to the guild! Don't you think that, the sooner you return, the sooner you can go on another job, hmm? You can only get stronger if you train."

Gajeel turned his head away with a _tch!_ "I'm lookin' fer someone."

"Oh?" Jose asked, with polite interest. "Who?"

How did he even begin to describe this person that he barely remembers?

"… My big sister. She was Mermaid Heel's top S class wizard, but something happened on a job, and now she's missing."

Jose's eyes widened, if just for a moment, with shock. "Don't tell me – not Aubrey Nephrite? The Dragonet?"

Gajeel shrugged his shoulders, still not looking at the master. "That's her name. So what?"

Oh, this was just _too_ _**good**_! The number of times Jose had attempted to recruit that girl – she had been there at the meeting last year, accompanying her Master for whatever reason, and had broken up the fight between him and Fairy Tail's Master, Makarov Dreyer, without any damage done to herself. Obviously, as such a strong wizard at such an age, she surely _had_ to join the strongest guild! _His_ guild!

And if he had her precious little brother, then it was just a matter of keeping Gajeel loyal, and just like that, Aubrey would be his.

"D'you know _why_ she disappeared, Gajeel-kun?" The boy's eyes betrayed that no, he didn't. Good, _good_. "It was because she was with trash."

"What?"

"Only the strong can join Phantom Lord – every other guild is filled with the trash leftovers. I had asked Aubrey-chan to join this guild because she was too strong for _Mermaid Heel_, that all-woman's guild, but she felt like she _owed_ them, which is why she never joined our ranks. And did you know, Gajeel-kun, it was _because_ of those trash in her guild that she disappeared?"

The boy was shaking, red eyes wide. "No way," he finally managed to grunt out.

"Of course, they probably told you all sorts of stories, but the fact of the matter was that they were too weak to defend themselves, so Aubrey-chan had to pull all the weight. _That_ is the real reason she's gone!" Jose watched as the boy in front of him shook, struggling with this information.

"I'll make them pay!" He finally gasped out, knuckles white on the edges of his tunic.

Oh yes, _this_ is what Jose wanted!

"Now, now, Gajeel-kun! Aubrey-chan won't like that! For your own health, I don't want you to go near any more Mermaid mages, ok? We'll keep your understanding of this to ourselves, and concentrate on getting stronger and stronger, so that you can fight with Aubrey-chan on equal ground. Now doesn't that sound better…?"

Red eyes looked up with a positively vile look in their depths. "Yeah, Master. I'm gonna go train now." And with that the boy was gone, and the sounds of his fury drifted back through the walls. _Music to Jose's ears!_

**_ * . * . * _**

The Red Haired Pirates were all enjoying their latest stop, amusing themselves with drink, fine company, and occasional exploration.

Except for Shanks.

He was moping at the bar he'd decided to favour, both arms resting on the counter with a pout set on his face, and determinedly ignoring Yasopp and Roux's drunken singing.

"_Binkusu no sake o, todoke ni yuku yo_

_Warera kaizoku umi _*hic_* watteku_

_Nami wo makura ni, negura wa fune yo_

_Ho ni hata ni netateru wa –!_"

"Dammit, I want Aubrey-chan to like us!" He finally shouted, knocking his crewmates over with the sudden outburst.

"Chief, we were just getting to the good bit!" Yasopp whined/slurred.

"That doesn't matter right now!" Shanks argued. "Where even is Aubrey-chan? She's not here, is she?" Comical tears started to fall. "She hates us, I know it, *boo hoo*!"

"That's what you arrived at?" Beckman sweatdropped just inside the door, with an unconscious and rather green-gilled Aubrey over one shoulder. Shaking his head with a fond smile, he said, "She's been sitting by the ship all day, trying to overcome her motion sickness. Oi, Roux! What's for dinner?"

**Ok, I really didn't know how to go about this chapter – I'm sorry it's taken me so long! Please feel free to share your thoughts – was Gajeel and Jose a bit much, is there anything you'd like to see before the Redhairs get to Dawn Island, etc etc?**


	15. Chapter 14, Dreams and Visions

_Jade Force_

Chapter Fourteen: Dreams and Visions

**Do you think that, maybe, we could get a review for this one? Pretty please? I've been pretty sick the last couple of weeks, and I'd really love some feedback**

Even after five days on the island, Aubrey had been unable to master her stomach.

"Aubrey-chan, we can stay a bit longer until you feel –" Shanks started to offer, only for his new mage to jump stubbornly up onto the bulwark railings … and then promptly fall flat on her face on the deck with the first dip of the ship, face green.

By now the crew were used to this – they'd seen her collapse at _least_ twice every day since she started trying to befriend the ship, and even the doctor was barely fazed at how green the girl had turned. Either through her magic or her stomach, one way or another, Aubrey turned green very easily.

"How the hell have you managed to get around with such severe motion sickness?" The blonde doctor asked.

Aubrey glared at him weakly from the deck. "Didn't know I had it till about three years ago," She mumbled. "Only ever walked or flew with Quartzerine. Then he disappeared, so I moved from the mountain, and then there were all these new things to learn! Like four-wheelers and trains and – and boats *_hurk_*~" she struggled for a second, one hand over her mouth, before continuing. "Besides, it was never for very long, and Ara-chan and Ris-chan used to knock me out, anyways. It helped a little bit."

In retrospect, she probably shouldn't have said that, because after a look to that thrice-cursed first mate, the doctor clocked her firmly in the temple with his sword sheath, and she went out like a light.

**_ * . * . * _**

In the land of dreams, it was almost easy for Aubrey to forget that her body was still aboard a floating deathtrap. This was probably a good thing, since it would be a week or so until they landed on the next island... or at least that's what Shanks had said at dinner the night before. So instead of clutching to the ship's railing and doing her best not to lose her lunch, Aubrey now found herself talking to a fairy – or something.

For her people, the woman must have been tall, just looking at her legs – not that Aubrey made a habit of looking at other people's legs, only that the woman's backless gold and orange dress was very short, struggling to even reach midthigh. Of course, that hadn't been the first thing to catch Aubrey's attention about the woman – it had been her beautiful blue hair, which cascaded down her back in tumbles and twists and half-curls. Her eyes were shaped and coloured like sharp almonds, and flecked through with bright green.

You're probably wondering what made Aubrey think she was a fairy; to be blunt, it was the wings. Dragonfly-like things, there were two sets, one attached at the shoulders, and the other towards the base of the spine, just above the back of the dress. Aubrey was also pretty convinced that that was a barbed _tail_ that hung behind the woman, as well.

"Who are you…?" The fairy woman asked in a soft, melancholy voice.

Aubrey blinked a few times, before replying with, "I'm Aubrey Nephrite, the Jade Dragon Slayer, of Mermaid Heel. Who are you?"

The woman seemed surprised at that question. "I am Ardelle, the last Titania of Tenroujima."

"Tenrou – are you associated with Fairy Tail?" Aubrey asked eagerly. "Do you know my clutchmate, Natsu Dragneel?"

Ardelle was already shaking her head sadly. "The Fae have never had much of anything to do with humans, even when they lived upon our island. That being said, there was a young girl some hundred years ago that we decided to watch over – poor thing, she was the only one to survive the massacre carried out on her village – and who's grave we were caring for, for a time. But now, there are no more Fae on Tenroujima…"

"I'm so sorry," Aubrey replied softly. "What happened?"

"We were cursed and chased by a witchhunter. Our wings and tails can be sold for quite the price on the black market… To the mages of Fairy Tail, my island was their holy land, and it isn't uncommon for them to host their S Class Exams there. For the most part, my people left them be, and tried to contain the damage to the surrounding areas. This year, they were just in time to rescue my daughter, the last of the Tenrou Fairies. I gave her into Makarov's care, after locking away her wings, tail, most of her magic, and a portion of her memories… I can only pray that I have done the right thing."

_Dragon's are capable of changing the memories of men…_ Quartzerine had once told her, after a particularly close call with a slaver shortly after her tenth birthday. _Some of us, however, see this as a misuse of our magic, and frown on the action._

_Then why did you just use it, Dad?_

_To protect my beloved hatchling, of course! What is a parent without their child?_

"I… I think so," Aubrey murmured. "If my father, the Jade Dragon King, had done such a thing to me, as a form of protection… it would hurt at first, once I'd realised what had happened, but I think I would forgive him. After all," she offered Ardelle a warm smile. "As horrible as it is to be without your parents, there is no harsher feeling than a parent without their child!"

Ardelle paused, looking Aubrey over carefully. "Fairy Tail took my daughter in, and you have close relations with them, do you not?"

Aubrey blinked, confused by this train of thought. "I suppose you could say that – Natsu is somewhere between a cousin and a little brother to me, so I like to visit when I can."

Ardelle's form seemed to fade into the mist that was the Dreamland. "My daughter's name is Levy McGarden – please look out for her!"

"Wha – I'm not even in Earthland anymore! How do I get back?!"

Ardelle's words were so faint, Aubrey wondered if she didn't imagine them:

_Make a wish on a falling star!_

**_ * . * . * _**

Quartzerine had always taught his daughter to be polite, and to never give in to the desire to swear – it was unbecoming of a Jade Dragon.

However, she had kept the company of two former (highly wanted) pirates for the better part of seven months, and was now a pirate herself. Therefore, she felt that in times of extreme duress, she could be excused from the anti-swear rule.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! …. *_urgh_*~!"

Aubrey dragged herself over to the railing, and felt Beckman's hands under her armpits, easily lifting her over the railing and into the ocean (at the last minute, she remembered to coat her precious satchel in dense jade crystals.)

"What was all of that about?" Beckman called down from the railing once she resurfaced, lazily smoking his pipe.

"I just had a dream where I met the Fairy Queen!" Aubrey called back up to the ship, scales racing across her face. "And do you want to know how she suggests getting home?"

Beckman made a _carry on_ gesture with one hand.

"She said to make a wish on a falling star! How ridiculous can you get?!"

"Says the girl who met a fairy queen in a dream," Beckman deadpanned.

Shanks suddenly burst from the belowdecks door, crying, "Aubrey-chan?! What's wrong, tell Uncle Shan – _oof_!" Stepping back a pace so that the jade pillar would remove itself from his face, Shanks glared down at his magician. "If I get a broken nose every time I start to worry about you, we're going to have to have some strong words, Aubrey-chan!" He declared heatedly, holding his freshly-rebroken nose, even as his magician snorted.

Beckman sighed, rubbing at his temples absently. "Didn't we agree to give her space? Jeez."

Shanks continued to pout and try to set his nose.

There was a cry from the water. "Tomorrow at dawn, marines will fire at us from the port side!" Aubrey's voice had lost all traces of her previous humour. "They'll be led by a large man in a suit, with a dog mask!"

The crew really surprised her when half of them burst out laughing, and the others started to cry comically.

"That'll be Garp!" Shanks called cheerfully, apparently forgetting that he was cranky with his magician. "This will be a good chance to see how you handle up in a fight against multiple opponents, Aubrey-chan!"

"I beg your pardon?!"

"Ah, Garp's from the old days!" Shanks called down to her. "He's an alright sort, even if he is a marine." Shanks fingered the brim of his strawhat, smiling nostalgically.

Aubrey's sharp ears picked up the mumbled, "And crazy!" from Yassop, which didn't do a great deal for her confidence in her captain's own sanity.

"How do you know that?" Beckman called out to her.

Aubrey went pink. "I was searching the future for the Queen's daughter, and since my senses were open, I could see the marines coming for us."

"Queen?" Shanks asked, brows furrowed.

"She says she met a Fairy Queen in her dreams," Beckman snorted. "Who told her to make a wish on a falling star to get home."

There was a moment of quiet.

"…. _DAHAHAHAHAA!_" Shanks roared. "Aubrey-chan is so cute! Dahahaha, I didn't know you were still of an age where you believed in fairies! Dahahahahaha!"

"Ano… Boss, maybe you shouldn't…." Yassop began, sweatdropping.

There was a tick mark forming on Aubrey's forehead.

"… Hisuiryū no _Hokou_!"


	16. Chapter 15, It takes two to tango

_Jade Force_

Chapter Fifteen:

**GUYS LAPPY TOPPY DIED, I'M SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE!(also writers block) But he's mostly fixed now, hurray! (It took three weeks, I was suffering withdrawals something horrid)**

**To Guest-san – Thank you for your review! *does a Chopper dance***

**To Matt-san – it's on the books! The most unfortunate thing about being the **_**Jade**_** Dragon Slayer though is that jade's not as easy to come across as Air or Fire -_-"**

Levy McGarden had been not-quite-four when she had been entrusted to Makarov Dreyer, and Fairy Tail. As such, she knew that there were things that she had forgotten, and that they must have been important. For example, there must have been a reason _why_ Makarov had to take her clothes shopping as soon as they'd returned to Magnolia (He said it was for the approaching winter season and the _cold_, something she'd never experienced on Tenroujima – come on, she was almost four, not stupid. Who wears skirts when it's cold?). And whenever she tried to ask questions about her mother, Makarov always got distracted by or was busy with some guild thing or another, so he could never answer her questions, and for whatever reason, Levy couldn't remember much of anything regarding her mother. She knew that Mama had been pretty, and had the same blue hair that she did, and that her name had been Ardelle … and that was it.

In the years that followed, when that loud-mouthed kid Natsu started talking about having a Dragon for a Dad, that's when Levy, age ten, really started to get suspicious.

"What's a Dad?" She'd asked Laxus slowly.

"What kinda question is that?"

"Humour me."

With a scoff and a sigh, Laxus had told her that dads were the male version of mums and were supposed to protect the whole family, but they were stupid arses who honestly just up and left everyone behind. (Although Levy was pretty sure that last bit was Ivan-specific).

"So, do you need a Dad?"

Laxus went bright red then, and had sputtered out a brief _when a mummy and a daddy love each other very much_ before Levy had interrupted with,

"So when Wakaba says _you need two to tango_, does that mean you need both a mum and a dad to make a baby?"

"Well, yeah," The poor boy spluttered.

"Oh, ok…. Thanks, Laxus. See ya."

To be honest, Levy had never really thought about a dad, because she had no memory of one. What had happened? A Terrible Event meant that Levy had had to go Fairy Tail for her own protection, but before that, it had only been Levy and Ardelle. She couldn't remember anyone else (not that she could remember a lot as it was). So what had happened to her own father? Was he missing, like Igneel? Had he left, like Ivan? Or maybe he was dead, like Silver? Levy didn't know, and she _hated_ not knowing. That's why she liked books so much – they helped her learn new things.

But now, almost three years after Natsu first joined the guild, Levy's books weren't able to help her the way she wanted them to.

She'd been having strange dreams about Aubrey-san, Natsu's "clutchmate", for a couple of nights a month for a little more than half a year now. Levy knew that something had happened to Aubrey-san, it had made _Sorcerer's Weekly_, after all, but she didn't know why _she_ kept seeing such things in her dreams. At first she'd chalked it up to her mind coming up with little comforting things to dream over, since she was worrying so much about Aubrey-san in the daytime. But this month was _different_.

Levy had watched as a scale-covered, glasses-less Aubrey-san bobbed in the water by the prow of a large ship, waiting, just on sunrise. There had been a whistling sound, and Aubrey-san had suddenly shot one of her arms, a pillar of jade, into the air to intercept a _cannon ball_! Aubrey-san had then ducked under the waves and swum quickly over to another ship that was fast approaching the first one. From there on out, Levy had watched the dream with her mouth agape as it transformed into something like the brawls that happened in the guild some days.

Aubrey-san had launched herself out of the sea and high enough into the air to see over the railings, before launching a breath attack, jade shards and glittery green magic flying over the deck and knocking a whole bunch of people over the side railings. Creating wings to help her glide around the ship (no doubt for her motion sickness, she was worse than Natsu), Aubrey-san ducked suddenly as another cannon ball careened towards her from the deck, where a large man in a suit and a dog mask was shouting _something_, although Levy couldn't hear the words clearly – she never could, in these dreams.

Aubrey-san scowled back at the strange man and snapped something harshly, before launching what Levy recognised as her _Jaberin_ attack, spear-like shafts of jade flying from a magic circle straight towards the strange man. Levy _thought_ that he'd been able to dodge the javelins, but the damage was still done to the ship; the deck was shattered in the places where Aubrey-san's magic had connected with the wood. There were cracking and pinging noises, and Levy noticed that some of the other people aboard the ship had started to shoot guns at Aubrey-san, who scowled and dipped a little lower, jade scales darkening in colour as she made them denser.

A man in a trench coat and fedora somehow launched himself into the air as well with a series of well-placed kicks, a katana drawn and arching towards Aubrey-san's neck. Using small breath attacks for propulsion, Aubrey-san ducked out of his way, and fired off another set of javelins at close range, which the man managed to dodge, moving incredibly fast.

It was then that the members of the first ship joined the fray, jumping the railing with cutlasses and pistols drawn and ready, taking on the uniformed men left on the deck whilst Aubrey-san conducted her pseudo-aerial battle. Turning back around to the other ship, Levy jumped a little bit when she realised that the flag that flew from the mast was black, a skull with two red stripes over the right eye on top of crossed cutlasses set in the middle… Aubrey-san was sailing with _pirates_?!

Before the dream could finish, however, Levy was jolted up from the book she'd been using as a pillow by the latest of Fairy Tail's brawls: Erza versus Mira, Natsu versus Gray, and anybody who attempted to interrupt was promptly punched or thrown into a wall – or, as the case had been for poor Droy, into Levy's table.

Levy's fists shook, and there was colour high in her cheeks when she suddenly cast a Solid Script: Sandstorm, knocking everybody in front of her into the far wall.

"You … you!" She struggled. "You idiots!" Running from the guild hall before anyone could see the furious, traitorous tears, Levy decided to head for Fairy Hills and her own room, and avoided everybody for the rest of the day.

She had a lot of thinking to do.

**_ * . * . * _**

Aubrey and Shanks' crew were making good time in their escape. The man Aubrey had been having her little aerial fight with must have assumed that she had a Devil Fruit, and as such couldn't swim. So when he'd sliced one of her wings and she'd allowed herself to fall into the ocean (after launching a breath attack in retaliation), Aubrey had dived down deep enough that she was confident no one could see her, before swimming back to Shanks' ship and hiding behind the butt of the floating deathtrap, waiting for the signal.

One of the marines taunted that Aubrey had fallen into the ocean, and nobody had gone to rescue her, which promptly lead to the Redhaired pirates jumping back aboard their ship and calling out for Aubrey worriedly. Suddenly, Shanks called out, "Now, Aubrey-chan!"

Twisting herself around and "taping" herself to the back of the ship with her magic, Aubrey released the strongest breath attack she could manage, head _just_ under the water; the force of her breath attack caused the ship to almost fly, it went so fast! The only problem was that Aubrey and the Klabautermann hadn't yet made friends…

Well, at least the fish had a nice meal, afterwards!

**Well, it's an end of an era! I finished my job at the dinosaur museum yesterday, so it's back to the property working for my Dad once again. I know my updates have been really sporadic already, and I'm sorry to say that they're going to get worse :( I will try my best to update again when I can, but I'll be doing a lot of travelling between our two places, so…. Yeah. Reviews always help, though!**


	17. Chapter 16

_Jade Force_

Chapter Sixteen: Kujakujima

**So, my overseas trip was a lot of fun! Now to save up for the next one ^_^"  
****Now, this **_was_** supposed to be posted on the thirteenth, as my birthday present from me to you, but because the river between my homestead and the highway was up, my brother and I had to swim to cross it, so no Lappy Toppy until today.  
****(**_***note* until the point in stage where Shanks' crew are named, I'm just going to call the blonde doctor Doc. It'll totes work out! But any other suggestions are welcomed!**_**)**

"I'm never going to sail again," Aubrey moaned as soon as they landed on Kujakujima and Beckman had helped her onto the pier. "Why does the Klabautermann hate me?"

"If that ship even has one, I doubt it hates you." Beckman answered calmly.

"Then why doesn't it want to be friends?! Is it because I'm always sick? That's not my fault, you know!"

*_sigh_* "Yes, I know that. But Klabautermanns are spirits, and it only knows you to be seasick." At the positively dejected look on Aubrey's dark face, he sighed again and added, "Some people are harder to make friends with than others, you know."

"Mm," Aubrey agreed. "Nasuada and I took forever to get along, and we were guild mates for two years! But, Ben-san, I don't think I can do this for that long!"

"Well, maybe you'll get lucky. We'll be on Kujakujima for five days, so you'll have plenty of time to make nice."

"Maybe if I tried meditating next to the ship again…"

"That didn't work the first time," Beckman pointed out dryly, but at the depressed air that came over the Dragon Slayer at that, he quickly backpedalled. "Come on, let's go find you a nice camp spot before everyone else gets to it, ok? Then we'll see about some food, the Kujakujima pheasants are delicious. Just don't touch any of the _shakkan_ beads, ok?"

Still on board the ship, Shanks and the doctor watched carefully.

Not that any of the crew were going to admit it, but they were worried. Whilst they all agreed that, despite her size, Aubrey was a skilled and tenacious fighter, the life of a pirate – that is, the _sea_ – just wasn't for her. But with her bounty, there was no way that they could leave her behind on some island; the Marines would find her easily, with her odd appearance and strange abilities.

"What are we going to do, Boss?"

"I don't know… We can't _make_ this old girl want to be her friend. And none of the anti-motionsickness pills you've given her to try have worked, _and_ we can't leave Aubrey-chan behind! We're going in circles here!"

Doc sighed. "Look, maybe the herbalists here have something that might work? Her magic, or the nature of her immune system, might just be why those pills haven't worked so far."

Shanks sighed in agreement. "Yeah, maybe. Anyway, this is the last stop before East Blue, and it'll be all smooth sailing after that."

"Mm. Maybe, Boss; the Peacock Warriors _are_ known for their use of the land, so I'm going to go and talk to some of their healers. Save me some of that pheasant if you spot any, please? There's never any left when I go looking."

Shanks laughed, and gave him an easy smile. "No worries!" He turned serious again. "Good luck with the herbs."

"Yeah. Good luck with the pheasant."

With Doc gone ashore, there was only a handful of crewmembers left on board, as everybody else had gone off to try and find some form of hospitality from the locals. Every time they journeyed through this island, it was the same story. The Peacock Warriors lived off of the land, and were known throughout the Grand Line for their fierce fighting abilities, extensive tribal tattoos, and understanding of plants and their purposes. If there was anyone capable of helping Aubrey with her motion sickness, it would be them. Otherwise, Crocus-san was their last hope… Something would come up, surely!

**_ * . * . * _**

Of all the islands that Aubrey had visited so far in the Grand Line, she had to admit that Kujakujima was both the strangest, and yet the most familiar, island yet. Instead of a township, familiar groupings lived scattered over the differing terrains, with a loose judicial system and trading network in place. Or at least, that's what Ben Beckman had told her over lunch, before she'd made up an excuse to leave him behind with his lady friend.

It must be getting on to nine months since she'd landed on Saboady Archipelago, and in that time, she had never felt quite as homesick as she did now. The wooded fells and soft glens had reminded her of the countryside surrounding Salix; the hardy forests of Kujakujima bore a strong resemblance to the ones that clung desperately to the sides of the Boscan ranges, tangles and tangles of briars and vines, woody trees and strippy grass tussocks that goats would fight over, clinging to steep surfaces by the skin of their hooves (there a mountainside, here sharp cliff faces carved by the elements). There were also animals that were ridiculously disproportionate in comparison to their "normal" counterparts: wolves that would have easily towered over those from Bosco (which were already the size of large horses, anyway), pygmy elephants no larger than the pumas Aubrey had once hunted for their coats, and, unique to the Kujaku, pheasants and peacocks the size of woolly mammoths.

It wasn't just the wild life that was disproportionate, however. Amongst the towering conifer trees of the lower ridges were many miniature trees that, were she in Earthland still, Aubrey would have called Bonsai. Here, though, they were called Shakkan, and they came in a plethora of different breeds, with a multitude of strange bead-like berries growing off their branches. Master had had a fondness for the art, so Aubrey actually suspected that the Shakkan were a separate thing altogether. Deciding to have a closer look at one particularly eye-catching specimen, Aubrey crouched just in front of the tiny tree, and used a fallen twig from one of its more naturally-sized neighbours to lift the small branches, careful not to touch the bead-berries.

During her walk through the rocky forest, Aubrey had noticed the bead-berries all had varying colours and patterns; the one that had caught her eye was a bright vermillion, with little red flame patterns climbing the sides, and had reminded her of Natsu-kun, for whatever reason. When she sniffed around the beads, careful not to touch, she'd caught the vaguest scent of woodsmoke and ash.

"I wouldn't touch that, if I was you."

Aubrey stopped, caught-prey-still, and flicked her jade eyes to her left just the littlest bit, enough to see the red-skinned teenager crouched on a low-hanging branch, bow held in his right arm. She slowly lowered the branch of the Shakkan, put the twig on the ground, drawing in a deep breath the whole time… and she couldn't smell a thing. There was rotting undergrowth from the more heavily-forested area, damp wood from an earlier shower, small animals tucked away beneath tree roots, the musk of a passing male wolf. There was no scent from this man-child.

"Who are you?"

The man-child grinned at her, teeth flashing bright against his ruddy skin, and tucked a loose braid behind his ear with a tattooed hand.

"Clea Peglar, Peacock Warrior. You?"

"Aubrey, the Dragonet. What is this?" She gestured to the plant, still staying close to the ground, scales sneaking up beneath her clothes, a pre-emptive defence.

"A Fire Larch Shakkan. They're the best for fire-arrows."

Aubrey frowned. "Huh?"

Peglar grinned, and dropped down to the ground, pulling an arrow from his quiver. Aubrey shot backwards in a series of bounds (_she was seven, chasing goats across the ranges; fourteen, dodging throwing stars from a Dark Guild member_), jade scales on her forearms and claws on her fingers.

"Wait, no, I'm sorry!" He exclaimed. "I'm not – I didn't mean – I just was going to show you the tip!" He held out the arrow, and sharp dragon eyes saw that it was fletched with crow feathers, and instead of a metal point, it had an orange-and-red bead-berry.

She didn't relax a great deal – mostly because the teenager was still armed, and she _couldn't smell him_ – but she did lose the claws, at least. Peglar seemed to count that as a win, so he slung his bow over his shoulders, and walked forward slowly, holding out the arrow.

"See, on Kujaku, we use the Shakkan berries for our trick tips."

"Do you have normal arrows, then?"

"Only for hunting."

"Show me how it works?"

A wary grin lit up Peglar's face, and he unslung his bow; his eyes had darted around as he readied his weapon, and Aubrey could tell immediately that he was well-practiced with the instrument, for he nocked and fired at a bare cliff face, a hundred feet away and two hundred up, all in the one motion. As soon as the arrow smashed against the earthen wall, there was a crack like breaking glass, and then a small fire raced up the arrow, extinguishing itself in the fall back to earth.

Aubrey whistled appreciatively.

"So, all of the orange and red beads can make fire?"

Peglar wobbled his hand in a _so-so_ gesture. "Only if the red is in a flame pattern. Colour is normally a good clue to what kind of bead you're looking at, but sometimes they're just pretty berries. The tree species also had to be accounted for, as well."

Aubrey hummed, crouching down to look at another beaded Shakkan, this one another larch tree, but with dark blue beads patterned with silver swirls.

"This one?"

"Hey, that's a find! We call those one's Storm Larch Shakkan. There aren't many of them, and Larches are the only tree that can grow those beads. If you fire enough of them into the right kind of clouds, you can encourage it to rain."

Aubrey looked around excitedly, and her eyes latched on to a little Shakkan with pretty bark, spindly, scratchy-looking branches, and plum-and-gold beads, tucked away behind a taller conifer.

"I don't even know what kind of tree this is… what do you call it?"

Peglar suddenly looked awkward. "That's a Foggy Acacia Shakkan. The beads can be used for confusing arrows, but… that's only during war time. The shamans use them to help them on their Spirit journeys… Most people tend to steer clear of them."

Aubrey had stopped listening after _Spirit journeys_. "Clea-san… have you heard of Klabautermann? The spirit of a beloved ship?"

A hesitant nod. "Travellers tell us stories sometimes. You can only see one if the ship is doomed, right?"

"Do you think that some of these beads might be able to assist someone trying to talk to the spirit?"

Peglar was quiet for a few moments, biting one tattooed thumb and thinking hard. "For your size, Dragonet-san, you shouldn't need more than two, if you time it right. If you like, tonight, I'll help you talk to your Klabautermann. Just… don't draw to much attention to it, ok? Or, well, any."

Aubrey gave a sharp nod, retracting all of her scales. "I can do that, Clea-san. Now tell me, how do we collect these beads?"

_**Say, Friz, how did you find out about hallucinogenic trees?**_** you ask in totally non-suss voices?  
****Easy. Wikipedia-ed it until I came across a scientific name that looked vaguely familiar, and kinda hoped for the best.**


	18. waves a white flag

As a reader, one of the things I always _hated_ with a passion was updates that were just Author Notes, and I swore I'd never do that. Unfortunately, life is a bitch.

The purpose of _this_ particular update is to let everyone know that Jade Force is currently being rewritten. Up until two days ago, this was handsdown my most popular fic, and every time I got a notice letting me know that someone was favouriting or following, I felt **/_so_/** bad about my writers block for this story. And every time I went to go "nope, you know what, it wasn't that great an idea, I'll just give it up for gone", I'd reread the story, and see the notes I've written out for the future, and kinda go, "schist, I can't do that to everyone, it's actually ok."

So, the new plan of attack is to rewrite the fic! As was pointed out in a few reviews, there's almost no plot happening at the moment. Especially after what's been happening in the manga, a lot of things will have to go through a bit of a turnover, anyway, so hopefully it's all for the best. The bright side of being flooded in at work (for the last TWO EFFING WEEKS) is that I have plenty of time to work on this! If anyone has any thoughts for improvement, or ideas of what sort of scenes you might like to read about in the revamped version, then please let me know.

Fairy of the Friz


End file.
